framework

Definition

A support structure comprising joined parts or conglomerated particles and intervening open spaces of similar or larger size.

Etymology

From frame + work.

Example Sentences

• "These ‘three principles of connexion’ compose the framework of principles in Hume's account of the association of ideas."
• "He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair."