CS Knowledge Base

From structure +‎ -al, 19th century.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈstɹʌk(t͡)ʃəɹəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

structural (comparative more structural, superlative most structural)

1. Of, relating to, or having structure.
   • 1814, Thomas Young, “An Introduction to Medical Literature, including a System of practical Nosology”, in The Monthly Review, page 185:

     Class 1. consists of nervous diseases, such as depend on the nervous and muscular systems; the second, of sanguine diseases, such as depend on the sanguiferous system; the third, of secretory diseases, or such as are connected with the state of the secretions; and the fourth, of structural diseases, or those that are connected with the nutritive powers.

   • 2011 April 8, Amie Ninh, “Liberal vs. Conservative: Does the Difference Lie in the Brain?”, in TIME‎^[1], archived from the original on 18 July 2025:

     These structural differences, the authors suggest, support previous reports of differences in personality: liberals tend to be better at managing conflicting information, while conservatives are though to be better at recognizing threats, researchers said.

2. Involving the mechanics of construction.

structural (plural structurals)

1. Structural steel, used in construction.
   • 1982, United States International Trade Commission, Certain carbon steel products from Spain (page A-49)

     Freight differentials often increased the spread in favor of the imported structurals. Purchasers repeatedly emphasized that their purchases of imported structurals were split among a number of sources, including Spain, France, West Germany, […]

• Raymond Williams (1983), “Structural”, in Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, revised American edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, published 1985, →ISBN, page 301.

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

structural (feminine structurale, masculine plural structuraux, feminine plural structurales)

1. structural

• “structural”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Borrowed from French structural. By surface analysis, structură + -al.

• IPA^(key): /ˌstruk.tuˈral/

structural m or n (feminine singular structurală, masculine plural structurali, feminine/neuter plural structurale)

1. structural