skyscraper

/ˌskaɪˈskreɪpər/

/ˈskaɪskreɪpə/

Other forms: skyscrapers

A skyscraper is a very tall building, like New York City's Empire State Building, which held the title of "World's Tallest Building" for many years.

You're most likely to see a skyscraper in a large city like New York or Hong Kong. You can spot the tourists in these cities because they are often gazing up at the tops of the skyscrapers. The designation of a building as a skyscraper was originally an Americanism, but the earliest recorded use of skyscraper was for a triangular sail set topmost on a square-rigged ship, and at other times in the past the word was used to designate a very tall man and a high-flying bird, among other things.

Definitions of skyscraper

1. noun

   a very tall building with many stories
   examples:

   Empire State Building

   a skyscraper built in New York City in 1931; 1250 feet tall

   Petronas Towers

   twin skyscrapers built in Kuala Lumpur in 1997; 1482 feet high

   Sears Tower

   a skyscraper built in Chicago in 1974; 1454 feet tall

   World Trade Center

   twin skyscrapers 110 stories high in New York City; built 1368 feet tall in 1970 to 1973; destroyed by a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001

   type of:

   building, edifice

   a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place