architectonic

From Latin architectonicus, from Ancient Greek ἀρχιτεκτονικός (arkhitektonikós), from ἀρχιτέκτων (arkhitéktōn, “architect”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɑɹ.kə.tɛkˈtɑ.nɪk/

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architectonic (comparative more architectonic, superlative most architectonic)

1. Relating to or characteristic of architecture, design and construction.
   • 1684, Robert Boyle, On the High Veneration Man’s Intellect owes to God:

     architectonic wisdom

   • 1713, W[illiam] Derham, “[A Survey of the Terraqueous Globe.] Of the Houses, and Habitations of Animals.”, in Physico-Theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation. […], London: […] W[illiam] Innys, […], →OCLC, book IV (Of Animals in General), page 226:

     [T]he great Creator hath likevviſe ſignalized his Care and Skill, by giving Animals an architectonick Faculty, to build themſelves convenient places of Retirement, in vvhich to repoſe and ſecure themſelves, and to nurſe up their Young.

   • 1870, John Campbell Shairp, Culture and Religion in Some of Their Relations:

     these architectonic functions

2. (figurative) Foundational, fundamental; supporting the structure of a morality, society, or culture.
   • 1874, Ernest Myers, The Extant Odes of Pindar, translated into English, Introduction, page 15:

     We do not of course always, or even often, find the moral principles clearly and consciously expressed or consistently supported, but we cannot but feel that they are present in the shape of instincts, and those instincts pervading and architectonic.

3. Relating to the scientific systematization of the totality of knowledge.

architectonic (plural architectonics)

1. The design, structure, or architecture of something.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 167:

     Because the poems are an investigation into the nature of time, it is important to be aware of the overall temporal architectonic of the love-cycle.

   • 2013, Isher-Paul Sahni, “More than Horseplay”, in Studies in Popular Culture, volume 35, page 71:

     The question of commandeering social space and, by extension, reviving a public sphere could well be developed within the architectonic of Bakhtin's theory.

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