scaffold

noun

scaf·​fold ˈska-fəld 

 also  -ˌfōld

1

a

: 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

Theft of the Sword of Charles X Similar to Sunday's robbery, a trio of masked men stole a jeweled 19th-century sword belonging to French King Charles X by using a scaffold to enter the museum through its second floor. —Mason Leath, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2025

The bio-ink is a living gel made from biocompatible polymers, designed to form a scaffold for new cells to grow. —Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2025

Seeking to improve these outcomes, an international team of scientists, led by researchers at Australia's Flinders University, has created a compound consisting of a bioceramic scaffold embedded with silver-gallium liquid metal. —New Atlas, 10 Oct. 2025

And against all odds, Jane survived the show trials that took her sister-in-law and husband and their friends to the scaffold, as well as the purges of new queens. —Phillipa Gregory, PEOPLE, 4 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French scaffald, alteration of Old French eschaafauz, escafaut, alteration of chaafaut, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum — more at catafalque

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for scaffold

• baffled

Kids Definition

scaffold

noun

scaf·​fold ˈskaf-əld 

 also  -ˌōld

1

a

: an elevated platform built as a support for workers

b

: a platform on which a criminal is executed

2

: a supporting framework