superstructure

English

Etymology

super- +‎ structure

Noun

superstructure (countable and uncountable, plural superstructures)

1. (nautical) Any structure built above the top full deck (FM 55-501).
2. Any material structure or edifice built on something else; that which is raised on a foundation or basis.
3. (sometimes figurative) All that part of a building above the basement.
4. (British, railroad) The sleepers and fastenings, in distinction from the roadbed.
5. (Marxism) The social sphere of ideology which includes religion, art, politics, law and all traditional values.

   Antonym: infrastructure

   • 1995, Richard Appignanesi, Chris Garratt, Postmodernism for Beginners, Icon Books, →ISBN, page 9:

     The superstructure evolves more slowly and is more resistant to change than the economic infrastructure, especially in the modern industrial age of advanced capitalism.

Translations

nautical: structure above deck

• Finnish: ylärakenne
• German: Aufbauten (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overbygg n, overbygning m or f

  Nynorsk: overbygg n, overbygning f

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: надстро́йка (ru) f (nadstrójka)
• Spanish: superestructura f

the social sphere of ideology

• Catalan: superestructura f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: superestructura f

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Latin

Participle

(deprecated template usage) superstrūctūre

1. vocative masculine singular of superstrūctūrus