Dictionary of Architecture Place this useful little dictionary in your library if you want a handy source for the spelling, pronunciation (if unusual), and concise definition of terms met in the study, historical reading, and practice of architecture. Fashioned over a ten-year period by one of America’s leading architects, the Dictionary can be used by architects, students, builders, and building lovers from savant to sidewalk supervisor. Verb, adjective, and adverb forms are usually omitted when the noun is listed, to save space and reader time. Only those technical terms from other fields that have a real bearing on architecture are included. Illustrations are restricted to objects that are difficult or impossible to describe in words alone. These are grouped in plates at the end of the dictionary. Phonetic spelling is used for unusual words rather than the shower of diacritical symbols which often discourages users of giant lexicons. From abaciscus to zwinger, the Dictionary of Architecture serves as a modest aid to those who would know the vocabulary of this mother of the arts.