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Glite Dictionary
Sears Tower

Sears Tower

3 3.8
A very tall building in Chicago, once the world's tallest and now called the Willis Tower
  • proper noun
  • /sɪrz ˈtaʊər/
translation icon : Sears Tower
  • The Sears Tower, once the tallest building in the world, is a prominent landmark in Chicago.
  • Sears Tower, Chicago
  • 110-story Sears Tower
  • Sears Tower, the tallest building

Examples

  • We'll proceed downriver past several notable structures such as the 333 building (this is almost all glass, so you can get some wonderful reflection photos here) and the Sears Tower - all 110 stories of it!

    Academic text (1997)

  • The Sears Tower is an odd beast.

    Blog text (8)

  • Witness Sears Tower, with 104 elevators.

    Blog text (8)

  • PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): "Chicago Skyline" -- Sears Tower by Joan Polsinelli

    Academic text (1997)

  • In mid-afternoon, we'll leave for the hotel, but not before we stop off to see the tallest building in the USA, the Sears Tower, Chicago's #1 tourist attraction.

    Academic text (1997)

  • One of the best views of Chicago can be seen from the observation deck of the Sears Tower.

  • Tourists flock to the Sears Tower to experience the skydeck and its glass balconies.

Synonyms

Willis Tower
vsSears Tower
3.5

A very tall building in Chicago formerly called the Sears Tower

uses the building's older historic name instead of the current official one

Surface Forms

Sears Tower main

Morphology

Sears + tower

The expression is a proper-name combination where 'tower' clearly denotes a tall building and 'Sears' is a name/title attached to it; a learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to a tower/building associated with Sears. The specific historical/details (Chicago, former height, now Willis Tower) are encyclopedic, but the basic referent (a tall building named 'Sears') is transparently derived from the parts and follows a common cross-linguistic naming pattern.

Etymology

Sears Tower takes its name from the Sears company, which built the very tall tower for its main offices. That's why many people still call the Chicago building 'Sears Tower' even though its official name is now 'Willis Tower'.