Dictionary

house of cards en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈhaʊs.ʌvˌkɑɹdz/ (General-American)
• (Australia) audio
• (US) audio
• [ˈhaʊs.ʌvˌkʰɑɹdz] (General-American)

Meanings

1. A structure made by stacking playing cards in a pyramidal fashion.
2. (attributive, broadly, often) Any structure with alternating vertical and horizontal layers.
   • The essentials of megalithic construction are either the single large slab or the large slab as walling stone with another large slab resting on two or more large walling stones as a capstone—a sort of house of cards architecture. 1958, Glyn Edmund Daniel, The Megalith Builders of Western Europe, page 18:
   • Dolmens impress only by their massiveness: their house-of-cards construction is the simplest possible […] 1977, Lionel Casson, Joseph Jacobs Thorndike, Mysteries of the past, page 49:
   • Also, it has been proposed that lithium ions can be adsorbed on both sides of the graphene sheets that are aggregated disorderly into a “house of cards” architecture, leading to two layers of lithium for each graphene sheet […] 2017, Markus Antonietti, Klaus Müllen, Chemical Synthesis and Applications of Graphene and Carbon Materials:
3. (figuratively, idiomatic) A structure, argument, or arrangement that is inherently flimsy or fragile and thus might collapse if any adversity were to come along and challenge it.

Forms

Relateds

built on sand

Translations (50)

bg къ́ща от ка́рти (structure made by stacking playing cards) · nn korthus (structure made by stacking playing cards) · ar بَيْت مِنْ وَرَق (structure made by stacking playing cards) · uk картко́вий буди́нок (structure made by stacking playing cards) · cmn 卡家 (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · be ка́ртачны до́мік (structure made by stacking playing cards) · uk карткови́й буди́ночок (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · da korthus (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · it castello di carte (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · ko 사상누각 (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · hu kártyavár (structure made by stacking playing cards) · ja トランプタワー (structure made by stacking playing cards) · et kaardimaja (structure made by stacking playing cards) · fi korttitalo (structure made by stacking playing cards) · nl kaartenhuis (structure made by stacking playing cards) · uk карткови́й буди́нок (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · sv korthus (structure made by stacking playing cards) · ca castell de cartes (structure made by stacking playing cards) · de Kartenhaus (structure made by stacking playing cards) · ru ка́рточный до́мик (structure made by stacking playing cards) · sk domček z kariet (structure made by stacking playing cards) · ko 카드의 집 (structure made by stacking playing cards) · es castillo de naipes (structure made by stacking playing cards) · pl domek z kart (structure made by stacking playing cards) · de Kartenhaus (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · nb korthus (structure made by stacking playing cards) · cs domeček z karet (structure made by stacking playing cards) · fi korttitalo (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · nl kaartenhuis (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · ms binaan daun terup (structure made by stacking playing cards) · el σπίτι από τραπουλόχαρτα (structure made by stacking playing cards) · uk картко́вий буди́ночок (structure made by stacking playing cards) · fr château de cartes (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · is spilaborg (structure made by stacking playing cards) · uk карткови́й буди́ночок (structure made by stacking playing cards) · cmn 撲克牌建築 /扑克牌建筑 (structure made by stacking playing cards) · ca castell de cartes (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · pt castelo de cartas (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · ru ка́рточный до́мик (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · pt castelo de cartas (structure made by stacking playing cards) · it castello di carte (structure made by stacking playing cards) · fr château de cartes (structure made by stacking playing cards) · uk карткови́й буди́нок (structure made by stacking playing cards) · pl domek z kart (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · cmn 紙牌屋 /纸牌屋 (structure made by stacking playing cards) · fa-ira خانِهٔ کارْتها (structure made by stacking playing cards) · uk картко́вий буди́ночок (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · da korthus (structure made by stacking playing cards) · uk картко́вий буди́нок (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation) · es castillo de naipes (structure or argument built on a shaky foundation)