Webster's English Dictionary

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superstructure

su.per.struc.ture \-.str*k-ch*r\ n [L superstructus, pp. of superstruere to 
   build on or over, fr. s]uper- + struere to build - more at STRUCTURE 1: a 
   structure built as a vertical extension of something else : as  1a: all of 
   a building above the basement  1b: the structural part of a ship above the 
   main deck  1c: the ties, rails, and fastenings of a railroad track in 
   distinction from  the roadbed 2: an entity, concept, or complex based on a 
   more fundamental one; speci f : legal, financial, political, and other 
   institutions that are in Marxist theory erected upon the economic base