card-house

7.0

A fragile structure that you make by balancing playing cards

noun
/kɑrd-haʊs/

: castillo de naipes

Building a card-house requires patience and a steady hand.

Examples

After an hour of careful construction, the card-house collapsed with the slightest breeze.
The tower he made turned out to be as fragile as a card-house.
He built a card-house in just a few minutes.
Look at my card-house! It's so tall!
After an hour of careful construction, the card-house collapsed with the slightest breeze.
Building a card-house requires patience and a steady hand.
The delicate structure resembled a card-house, ready to fall at any moment.

Synonyms

house of cards

vscard-house

1 6.0

A tall, fragile structure made by stacking playing cards together

is more general focusing on balanced cards rather than interlocked formations

cardhouse

vscard-house

7.3

A small tower you make by balancing playing cards that falls easily

is the hyphenated two-word spelling variant of the same structure

cardcastle

vscard-house

7.7

A fragile structure made by balancing playing cards against each other

is the general fragile construction rather than a playful challenge

Surface Forms

card-house singular

card-houses plural

Morphology

card-house = card + house (transparent) = card + house

The meaning is a literal combination of 'card' + 'house' referring to a house built from cards, so the relation is directly derivable.

Etymology

The word card-house comes from the simple parts card ('a playing card') and house ('a building'), meaning a small 'house' built from cards. That's why a card-house is a very fragile structure that can fall with the smallest touch, and the same image helps you remember when something is weak or likely to fail.