load-bearing wall
1
3.6
- noun
- /ˈloʊdˌbɛrɪŋ wɔl/
- Specialized
:
muro portante
- Due to the financial restrictions of the project, we considered the simplest possible structural system, with load-bearing walls everywhere except on the covered parking space.
Examples
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During the inspection, the contractor identified the load-bearing wall that could not be removed without risking collapse.
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Rausch Coleman also offers a limited lifetime warranty that covers the roof system, foundation wall system, and structural load-bearing walls of the home.
Blog text (23) -
Maybe it's a load-bearing wall.
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But you didn't realize that, well, that was a load bearing wall that you just torn out.
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This load-bearing wall?
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Out-of-plane instability of gravity load-bearing walls due to a significant fire can lead to overall or disproportionately large failure of a building (that is, the consequence of failure is very high).
Academic text (2016) -
The architect explained that the load-bearing wall was essential for supporting the upper floors.
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In the renovation, we decided to keep the load-bearing wall to ensure the building's stability.
Synonyms
2
5.1
A wall that holds up the floor or roof above it
A circular strong wall built under a heavy structure to support its weight
How Load-Bearing
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a wall that supports the weight of parts of a building' is directly and compositionally derived from 'load-bearing' (able to bear or carry a load/weight) + 'wall' (a vertical structural element). This is a literal, technical compound following regular English formation and has clear cross-linguistic equivalents, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can reliably infer the meaning.
Etymology
Load-bearing wall comes from a simple picture: the wall actually carries the load, the floors and roof above, and so is bearing that weight. That's why it means 'a wall that supports the weight of parts of a building'.