scaffold

noun

scaf·fold | \ ˈska-fəld also -ˌfōld

Definition of scaffold

1a : a temporary or movable platform for workers (such as bricklayers, painters, or miners) to stand or sit on when working at a height above the floor or ground

b : a platform on which a criminal is executed (as by hanging or beheading)

c : a platform at a height above ground or floor level

2 : a supporting framework

Examples of scaffold in a Sentence

The condemned man was led to the scaffold.

Recent Examples on the Web

The swing-stage scaffold malfunctioned or broke, ending up vertical rather than horizontal. — Liam Ford, chicagotribune.com, "2 workers rescued after high-rise scaffold breaks on Far North Side," 7 June 2019 In preparation for today's rollout, Scaled Composites spent the past weeks disassembling a three-story scaffold that surrounded the aircraft during construction. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "Paul Allen's Enormous Stratolaunch Carrier Aircraft Rolls Out of Hangar for First Time," 31 May 2017 And carpentry means being comfortable on ladders, scaffolds, sloping rooftops, and scissors lifts, and crawling through attics and crawl spaces. — Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, "How to Become a Skilled Tradesperson," 13 Mar. 2019 Patient Andemariam Beyene died after the implant, a polymer scaffold seeded with his own stem cells, failed. — Gretchen Vogel, Science | AAAS, "University declines to sanction doctor who referred patient for deadly transplant," 13 Apr. 2018 Whereas Judas despaired of God’s help and hanged himself on a scaffold of his own making, Peter wept for his sins and became the rock of the church. — C.c. Pecknold, WSJ, "The Catholic Bishops Who Failed Us All," 16 Aug. 2018 Such saponified solids then act as sticky scaffold that glom onto sewer walls, grow, and snare other debris, slowly forming a monstrous mass. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "London museum is livestreaming a key 21st-century artifact—festering sewage," 18 Aug. 2018 MakerBot has been selling machines with multiple extruders since 2012, for instance — so one extruder can print an object with ordinary plastic filament, and another can lay down a support scaffold that dissolves in water. — Adi Robertson, The Verge, "MakerBot’s new 3D printer shows how much it’s changed in nine years," 11 Dec. 2018 What the report shows is a pattern of episcopal behavior akin to a scaffold of their own making. — C.c. Pecknold, WSJ, "The Catholic Bishops Who Failed Us All," 16 Aug. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scaffold.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.