Word.ws English Dictionary

edifice complex

edifice complex noun: the desire to construct or own spectacularly imposing buildings.

Noun

edifice complex (plural edifice complexes)

  1. (derogatory, humorous) The desire to construct or own spectacularly imposing buildings.
    • There may be fewer dictators these days, he says, but instead local authorities run by city politicians “want to follow in the footsteps of mad King Ludwig of Bavaria and indulge their edifice complexes”.2005, The Bulletin, numbers 6477-6485, page 63
    • The McKees' Munster Mansion continues a long tradition of Texans with edifice complexes.2006, Jerome Pohlen, Oddball Texas: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places, page 63

Forms of edifice complex

pluraledifice complexes

Origin of edifice complex

From the psychoanalytical sense of complex, and a pun on Oedipus complex.

Questions about edifice complex

What does edifice complex mean?
Edifice complex means the desire to construct or own spectacularly imposing buildings.
What part of speech is edifice complex?
Edifice complex is a noun.
What is the plural of edifice complex?
The plural of edifice complex is edifice complexes.

Words near edifice complex in the dictionary

  1. edifications
  2. edificator
  3. edificators
  4. edificatory
  5. edifice
  6. edifice complex
  7. edifice complexes
  8. edifices
  9. edificial
  10. edified
  11. edifier

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: edifice complex (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “edifice complex.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/edifice_complex. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.