What is the difference between Turret and Tower?

The difference between turret and tower

is that “turret” is a little tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the corners of a building or castle and “tower” is a very tall iron-framed structure, usually painted red and white, on which microwave, radio, satellite, or other communication antennas are installed; mast.

turret

tower

Noun

  • (architecture) A little tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the corners of a building or castle.
  • (historical, military) A siege tower; a movable building, of a square form, consisting of ten or even twenty stories and sometimes one hundred and twenty cubits high, usually moved on wheels, and employed in approaching a fortified place, for carrying soldiers, engines, ladders, casting bridges, and other necessaries.
  • (electronics) A tower-like solder post on a turret board (a circuit board with posts instead of holes).
  • (military) An armoured, rotating gun installation on a fort, ship, aircraft, or armoured fighting vehicle.
  • (rail transport) The elevated central portion of the roof of a passenger car, with sides that are pierced for light and ventilation.

Synonyms

  • (military): cupola

Exemple

  • There breathes no being but has some pretence / To that fine instinct called poetic sense; […] / The freeman, casting with unpurchased hand / The vote that shakes the turrets of the land.

Noun

  • A very tall iron-framed structure, usually painted red and white, on which microwave, radio, satellite, or other communication antennas are installed; mast.
  • A similarly framed structure with a platform or enclosed area on top, used as a lookout for spotting fires, plane crashes, fugitives, etc.
  • A water tower.
  • A control tower.
  • Any very tall building or structure; skyscraper.
  • (figurative) Any item, such as a computer case, that is usually higher than it is wide.
  • (informal) An interlocking tower.
  • (figurative) A strong refuge; a defence.
  • (historical) A tall fashionable headdress worn in the time of King William III and Queen Anne.
  • (obsolete) High flight; elevation.
  • The sixteenth trump or Major Arcana card in many Tarot decks, usually deemed an ill omen.
  • (cartomancy) The nineteenth Lenormand card, representing structure, bureaucracy, stability and loneliness.

Synonyms

  • donjon

Examples

  • The Sears Tower
  • Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
  • Lay trains of amorous intrigues / In towers, and curls, and periwigs.