tower block
1
3.5
- noun
- /ˈtaʊə blɒk/
- UK
:
bloque de apartamentos
- What is it about tower blocks and shopping trolleys?
- apartment in a tower block
- adjacent tower block
So there was, there used to be a pub across the road from the, from the, the tower block called the the Queen Victoria.
- So there was, there used to be a pub across the road from the, from the, the tower block called the the Queen Victoria.
Examples
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Many families live in the modern tower block near the city center.
-
Well, we live in that tower block up there, bruv.
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I grew up in this tower block.
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A religious teacher's family dreams of living in a flat in a tower block.
Blog text (32) -
Third generation of tower block dwellers, we are.
-
He bought himself a car, lives in a tower block, and his brothers all have a flat as well.
Blog text (17) -
They could drive all day and still be in these tower block suburbs.
Fiction book (1997) -
Right away, your taxi is weaving through wild traffic, ramshackle tower blocks whizzing by.
Academic text (2010) -
The federal government subsidized the demolition of so-called zones of blight in scores of cities and offered incentives for developers to build modern office and apartment tower blocks.
Blog text (1) -
He moved into a tower block that overlooks the park.
Synonyms
63
3.0
A very tall building with many floors in a city
40
3.0
A tall building with many floors that holds homes or offices
1
2.8
A large building with many rooms used by different businesses
How Tall
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'tower' (a tall vertical structure) with 'block' (a building or wing), so a learner can infer it denotes a tall building or high-rise of flats/offices. This compound follows a regular English noun-noun composition (common across languages) and, aside from being chiefly British in usage, is immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
The compound noun tower block may come from the image of a tall tower that is really one big block of homes, like many 'apartments' stacked on top of each other. That's why it means 'a tall building' with many separate 'apartments' or offices.