Leaning Tower
2
4.0
- proper noun
- /ˈlinɪŋ ˈtaʊər/
:
Torre Inclinada
- During our trip to Italy, we admired the Leaning Tower of Pisa from various angles.
- Leaning Tower of Pisa
Examples
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The Leaning Tower I adore
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Then there's one half of the opening scene of a play which takes place in the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
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Uh, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
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Will we go and see the Leaning Tower of Pisa?
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Well, are we going to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa?
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You want to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, we'll see the bloody thing.
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These broads... ... would hump the Leaning Tower of Pisa if they could get up there.
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During those weeks, our children kept escaping their overprotective father to climb on the parapets of ruins or to experience the vertigo one gets from running up the interior spiral staircase of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Academic text (2007) -
Many tourists visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa to take pictures pretending to hold it up.
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The Leaning Tower of Pisa is famous for its unintended tilt caused by unstable soil.
Synonyms
8
3.3
A tall structure, often part of a church or public building, that holds bells
1
9.9
A tall bell tower near a church or standing alone
1
3.4
A tall bell tower in Pisa, Italy that is not straight and is famous
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase directly combines 'leaning' (tilting) and 'tower' (a tall vertical structure), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a tower that tilts; the proper-name reference to the Pisa monument is therefore literal and descriptive. This compositional, cross-linguistically common naming pattern makes the expression straightforward to understand from its parts.
Etymology
The name Leaning Tower comes from a bell tower in Pisa that began to lean while it was being built because the soft ground could not hold it, so the tower started to 'tilt' to one side. That's why the name describes this famous tilted building and why people come to see and take photos of it.