substructure

noun

sub·struc·ture ˈsəb-ˌstrək-chər

Synonyms of substructure next

: an underlying or supporting part of a structure

substructural

ˈsəb-ˌstrək-chə-rəl

-shrəl

adjective

Example Sentences

The bridge's substructure was damaged.

Recent Examples on the Web The police are part of the substructure that helps hold up the country’s social hierarchy, its strict delineation of power and privilege that is stubbornly unyielding to money, education and politics. —

Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 1 Feb. 2023 These are some of the widespread corals that are major contributors to the immense calcium carbonate substructure that makes up a coral reef. —

Grrlscientist, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2023 But if the hidden substructure of the earlier film was simply that New York in the ’70s was a crazy place, this time around the foundational problem is the sensation felt by many black people that they are being ignored, misunderstood, disrespected or shoved to the fringes of society. —

Kyle Smith, WSJ, 25 Aug. 2022 In order to be rated poor, at least one component of the bridge — such as its deck, substructure or superstructure — will have a rating of 4 or less on a 0-9 scale. —

Kristi Tanner, Detroit Free Press, 6 Apr. 2022 Rather, assortative mating often persists over the generations, slowing down the diminishing of population substructure. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 16 Jan. 2012 Not only that, but this expanding population exhibits geographic substructure, with demographic expansion being particularly powerful along the edge of the pale of Quebecois settlement. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 30 Sep. 2013 According to Daniele Oriti, a co-author of the new paper, the core idea behind any theory of quantum gravity is that gravitation arises from a myriad of tiny, discrete, quantum objects that form a sort of hidden underworld, a deeper substructure beneath the familiar dimensions of space and time. —

Conor Purcell, Scientific American, 28 Oct. 2021 Regardless of whether this level of substructure is of note of not, your own work on migrations, admixtures and waves of advance depicts patterns of demographic and genetic interconnectedness, and so refutes typological conceptions of race. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 20 Nov. 2012 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'substructure.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.