supporting tower
1
4.5
- noun
- Specialized
- Each supporting tower is designed to withstand harsh weather conditions while holding up the cables.
Examples
-
The new bridge was built with a strong supporting tower to ensure its stability.
-
Rick looked away, but a flicker of motion drew his attention back to pad 34, where brilliant floodlights now lit a gleaming white rocket and its orange support tower.
Fiction book (1996) -
Engineers installed a supporting tower to help distribute the weight of the power lines.
Synonyms
871
1.0
A tall, narrow thing that looks like a building
8
4.9
A tall post that supports a building above the ground or water
4
3.6
A strong upright support in a building or bridge that holds weight
4
4.0
A part that holds something and keeps it upright, like columns or a skeleton
1
3.9
A vertical post that holds heavy weight in a building or bridge
How Strong
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase 'supporting tower' is transparently composed from 'supporting' (able to bear weight) + 'tower' (a tall vertical structure), so its meaning 'a tower that bears or steadies another structure' follows directly from the constituents. This adjective + noun composition is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and would be readily understood by a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
The compound noun supporting tower comes from the clear image of a tower that is supporting something heavy, like a bridge or power line. So it means a tower built to 'hold' or 'steady' another structure.