tower

CEFRA1

/ˈtaʊ.ə(ɹ)/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A tall narrow building or structure.

  2. 02

    verb

    To rise high above people or things nearby.

Examples

  • Do you know how high the television tower is?

  • She lives in a tower block on an estate in London.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • [ˈtɑːə]
  • /ˈtoʊ.əɹ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.

  2. A very tall open-framed structure on which communications devices are installed.

  3. A similarly framed structure with a platform or enclosed area on top.

More examples

In context

  • The clock in the church tower struck nine.

  • an observation tower, an isolated watch tower, a church tower, conning tower

  • signal tower, radio tower, cell tower

Synonyms

Quick test

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Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English tour, tur, tor, from Old English tūr, tor, torr ("tower; rock"; > English tor) and Old French tour, toer, tor; both from Latin turris (“a tower”), Ancient Greek τύρρις (túrrhis) (Hesychius), τύρσις (túrsis). Displaced native Middle English stepel for the general sense of "tower". Compare Scots tour, towr, towre (“tower”), West Frisian toer (“tower”), Dutch toren (“tower”), German Turm (“tower”), Danish tårn (“tower”), Swedish torn (“tower”), Icelandic turn (“tower”), Welsh tŵr. Doublet of tor, tourelle, and turret.