Skyscraper: Definition, Usage & Examples

Meaning 1：tall building (skyscraper)

skyscraper 🔊

/ˈskaɪskreɪpər/

A very tall building with many floors, often seen in big cities.

Skyscraper definition illustrated by a tall glass building towering over a city skyline.

tall building 🔊

➕

/ˈtɔːl ˈbɪldɪŋ/

A very tall building with many stories, typically found in the central business districts of large cities.

📁 Category：Buildings & Places 🔖 Level：Beginner

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

'Sky' (from Old English 'sky', meaning cloud or heavens) + 'Scrape' (from Old English 'scrapian', to scratch) + '-er' (agent suffix). Literally 'something that scrapes the sky'.

💡 Mnemonic

Think: Sky + Scrape + er = A building so tall it seems to scrape the sky.

📖 Example

From the top of the skyscraper, you can see the whole city spread out like a tiny model. 🔊 From the top of the tall building, you can see the entire city laid out below like a miniature model.

🔗 Collocations

tall skyscraper – A skyscraper of great height.

skyscraper construction – The process or industry of building skyscrapers.

skyscraper district – An area of a city densely populated with tall buildings.

🔄 Synonyms

high-rise (n.) – A tall building with many floors.

tower (n.) – A tall, narrow building, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.

multi-story building (n.) – A building having several floors.

🌱 Derivatives

skyscraping (adj.) – Extremely high or tall.

📖 Cultural Story

The term emerged in the 1880s in the US. The world's first steel-frame skyscraper is often considered the Home Insurance Building in Chicago (1885). Its creation was driven by new steel-frame technology, elevator invention, and the need to maximize urban land use.