cardcastle

7.7

A fragile structure made by balancing playing cards against each other

noun
/ˈkɑrdˌkæsl/

: castillo de cartas

She took great care while building her cardcastle, but a gust of wind brought it down.

Examples

The children competed to see who could make the tallest cardcastle before lunchtime.
He stared in dismay as his impressive cardcastle collapsed with the slightest touch.
Look at that impressive cardcastle!
She built a tall cardcastle in the living room.
He stared in dismay as his impressive cardcastle collapsed with the slightest touch.
The children competed to see who could make the tallest cardcastle before lunchtime.
She took great care while building her cardcastle, but a gust of wind brought it down.

Synonyms

house of cards

vscardcastle

1 6.0

A tall, fragile structure made by stacking playing cards together

has identical meaning but is usually written as a compound word

card-house

vscardcastle

7.0

A fragile structure that you make by balancing playing cards

has identical meaning but is the common modern name without a hyphen

cardhouse

vscardcastle

7.3

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

has identical meaning but keeps the words separate instead of merging

Surface Forms

cardcastle singular

cardcastles plural

Morphology

cardcastle = card + castle (transparent) = card + castle

Meaning is directly inferable as a structure made from playing cards: 'card' + metaphorical use of 'castle'.

Etymology

Cardcastle is made from the simple parts card and castle, and it means a 'castle' made from playing 'cards'. Picture a small fortress built only of cards—beautiful but very fragile—so the name explains why a cardcastle can fall with the smallest touch.