Noun

(en noun)

The act of establishing; a ratifying or ordaining; settlement; confirmation.

The state of being established, founded, etc.; fixed state.

That which is established; as a form of government, a permanent organization, business or force, or the place where one is permanently fixed for residence.

(slang) The establishment : the ruling class or authority group in a society; especially, an entrenched authority dedicated to preserving the status quo. Sometimes capitalized: the Establishment.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)

, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.}}

Noun

(en noun)

A cohesive whole built up of distinct parts.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.}}

The birds had built an amazing structure out of sticks and various discarded items.

The underlying shape of a solid.

He studied the structure of her face.

The overall form or organization of something.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03

, author= , title=Pixels or Perish , volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine= citation , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure , astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}

The structure of a sentence.

The structure of the society was still a mystery.

A set of rules defining behaviour.

For some, the structure of school life was oppressive.

(computing)  Several pieces of data treated as a unit.

This structure contains both date and timezone information.

(fishing, uncountable)  Underwater terrain or objects (such as a dead tree or a submerged car) that tend to attract fish

There's lots of structure to be fished along the west shore of the lake; the impoundment submerged a town there when it was built.

A body, such as a political party, with a cohesive purpose or outlook.

The South African leader went off to consult with the structures .

(logic)  A set along with a collection of finitary functions and relations.