building block

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building block

1. A block used as a building material, especially a cinder block.

2. A small wooden or plastic cube used as a building toy.

3. A basic element or part of something: Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

building block

1. (Building) a block of stone or other material, larger than a brick, used in building

2. (Computer Science) a component that fits with others to form a whole: standardized software building blocks.

3. another name for (the child's toy) block

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

build′ing block`

1. block (defs. 2, 3).

2. a basic element or component: the building blocks of proteins.

[1840–50]

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Noun	1.	building block - a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else; "units of nucleic acids" unit thing - a separate and self-contained entity chemical chain, chain - (chemistry) a series of linked atoms (generally in an organic molecule) couple - (physics) something joined by two equal and opposite forces that act along parallel lines part, piece - a portion of a natural object; "they analyzed the river into three parts"; "he needed a piece of granite" unit cell - the smallest group of atoms or molecules whose repetition at regular intervals in three dimensions produces the lattices of a crystal chemical group, radical, group - (chemistry) two or more atoms bound together as a single unit and forming part of a molecule molecule - (physics and chemistry) the simplest structural unit of an element or compound
	2.	building block - a block of material used in construction work ashlar - a rectangular block of hewn stone used for building purposes breeze block, cinder block, clinker block - a light concrete building block made with cinder aggregate; "cinder blocks are called breeze blocks in Britain" headstone, keystone, key - the central building block at the top of an arch or vault voussoir - wedge-shaped stone building block used in constructing an arch or vault building material - material used for constructing buildings

building block

noun

One of the individual entities contributing to a whole:

component, constituent, element, factor, ingredient, integrant, part.

Translations

Baustein

synthon

building block

n → componente m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in periodicals archive ?

'RAPTR's building block architecture allows us to scale the antenna up or down to suit a wide range of platforms and missions, so it is well suited to the demands of today's multi-domain battlespace,' said Brent Toland, vice president, land and avionics C4ISR, Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman Introduces Next Generation Scalable Radar Antenna; Re-scalable Aperture for Precision Targeting Radar uses building block approach for scalability

Robot bin picking is being employed by a leading toy manufacturer based in Denmark to separate plastic building blocks during production.

Toy maker installs robot for sorting bricks

Researchers at Karolinska Institute have discovered that one of the building blocks in the calcium channels in the pancreatic beta cells play an important role in regulating our blood glucose values.

New potential target for treatment of diabetes

Whether you're a kid or a kid at heart, the allure of the miniature and colorful building blocks is too hard to resist.

WATCH: Make your home 'Lego ready' with compatible tape

This Building Block is a creative and fun way for kindergarten students to get their start in STEM and prepares them for future challenges in the world around them.

Elementary school design brief: a home for all seasons

"Nature makes these kinds of chemicals from a very small number of building blocks, coupling them together, using the same chemistry over and over."

A bottom-up approach to creating chemicals

M2 PHARMA-February 21, 2014-VWR International expands access to VWR Building Blocks Portal solution

VWR International expands access to VWR Building Blocks Portal solution

Honeywell's customers use this Zephyr building block with their own bypass solution.

Honeywell

The divestiture of Building Block Chemicals, which had 2010 sales of $600 million, included the sales, marketing, manufacturing, R&D and technical service personnel, and its manufacturing site located in Fortier, LA.

Cytec to sell building block chemicals business

According to report, the Building Block Chemicals Business recorded 2010 sales of USD600m.The Building Block Chemicals product lines include acrylonitrile, sulfuric acid and melamine which are produced mostly for third party sale.

The Valence Group acts as sale advisor to Cytec Industries Inc

Modular server building block products have been unveiled by chip manufacturer Intel, supporting a server specification announced by the Server Systems Infrastructure (SSI) organisation in July 2007.

Intel unveils modular server building block products

Some customers compare the modular conveyor design to Lego interlocking building blocks. The modular conveyor system is composed of 3' sections that can be easily connected to any desired length.