structural

/ˈstrʌktʃərəl/

/ˈstrʌktʃərəl/

When you're talking about something structural you're talking about the way it's built. The simple look of a building can mask its complex structural design.

A skeleton is the structural framework of a body. While we all look different on the outside, for the most part, we all share the same structural components — we're built the same way. Some buildings, such as the Eiffel Tower, reveal their structural design completely. They are nothing but structure. Other buildings work hard to hide their structural qualities. You can discuss the structural nature of ideas too, as in "structural economics" or even human relationships.

Definitions of structural

1. adjective

   relating to or having or characterized by structure
   “structural engineer”

   “structural errors”

   “structural simplicity”
2. adjective

   affecting or involved in structure or construction
   “the structural details of a house such as beams and joists and rafters”

   “structural damage”

   synonyms:

   functional

   designed for or capable of a particular function or use
3. adjective

   concerned with systematic structure in a particular field of study
   synonyms:

   constructive

   constructing or tending to construct or improve or promote development
4. adjective

   relating to or caused by structure, especially political or economic structure
   “structural unemployment in a technological society”
5. adjective

   pertaining to geological structure
   “structural effects of folding and faulting of the earth's surface”

   synonyms: geomorphologic, geomorphological, morphologic, morphological
6. adjective

   relating to or concerned with the morphology of plants and animals
   synonyms: morphologic, morphological