superstructure: Meaning and Definition of

su•per•struc•ture

1. the part of a building or construction entirely above its foundation or basement.
2. any structure built on something else.
3. the overlying framework or features of an organization, institution, or system, built or superimposed on a more fundamental base.
4. any construction built above the main deck of a vessel as an upward continuation of the sides. Cf.
5. the part of a bridge that rests on the piers and abutments.
6. anything based on or rising from some foundation or basis: a complex ideological superstructure based on two hypotheses.