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View synonyms for scaffold

scaffold

[ skaf-uhld, -ohld ]

noun

  1. a temporary structure for holding workers and materials during the construction, repair, or decoration of a building.
  2. an elevated platform on which a criminal is executed, usually by hanging.
  3. a raised platform or stage for shows or performances, the seating of spectators, etc.
  4. any raised framework or system of such frameworks.
  5. a suspended platform used by painters, window washers, and others for working on a tall structure, such as a skyscraper.
  6. Cell Biology, Genetics. any of various extracellular framelike components found naturally in genomic material and synthesized for tissue engineering.
  7. Metallurgy. any piling or fusion of materials in a blast furnace, obstructing the flow of gases and preventing the uniform descent of the charge.


verb (used with object)

  1. to furnish (a building or other structure) with a system of temporary platforms for supporting workers and materials during construction, repairs, cleaning, etc.:

    Our team will scaffold the building in order to provide access for restorative work and maintenance.

  2. to be the support or foundation for:

    All knowledge is scaffolded by its physical and social contexts.

  3. Education.
    1. to aid (learners or their learning) using a method in which support in the application of a new skill is gradually reduced until the individual learner can demonstrate it independently, after which the mastered skill becomes the basis for acquiring the next new skill in a similar way:

      Showing students how to do something can be an effective first step in scaffolding learning.

      The program scaffolds middle-school learners through the scientific inquiry process.

    2. to design (learning materials, curriculum, etc.) to suit this method of instruction:

      This paper explains the model used to scaffold lessons for English language learners.

scaffold

/ ˈskæfəld; -fəʊld /

noun

  1. a temporary metal or wooden framework that is used to support workmen and materials during the erection, repair, etc, of a building or other construction
  2. a raised wooden platform on which plays are performed, tobacco, etc, is dried, or (esp formerly) criminals are executed


verb

  1. to provide with a scaffold
  2. to support by means of a scaffold

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Derived Forms

  • ˈscaffolder, noun

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Other Words From

  • un·scaf·fold·ed adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of scaffold1

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English scaffalde, scaffot, skaffaut, from Old French escadafaut; akin to catafalque

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Word History and Origins

Origin of scaffold1

C14: from Old French eschaffaut, from Vulgar Latin catafalicum (unattested); see catafalque

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Example Sentences

Two young black men stood under a scaffold outside the church trying to keep dry.

But of course no such “prophetic sight” or “spiritual glance,” as Villard also imagined it, carried that far from the scaffold.

For me, technology is a delightfully helpful crutch to scaffold me into more advanced meditative practices.

They were seeded in a lab onto a plastic scaffold, where it took less than a week for them to multiply and create a new windpipe.

And he walked into Lombard Street with the feelings of a culprit walking up the scaffold to his execution.

A Workman, who was mounted on a high scaffold to repair a town clock, fell from his elevated station, upon a man who was passing.

The Tories were reminded that his soldiers had guarded the scaffold before the Banqueting House.

She was summoned to present herself before the Convention, to confront her accuser, and defend herself from the scaffold.

Madame Roland had continued writing her memoirs until the hour in which she left her cell for the scaffold.

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