nonbearing
Adjective: 1. (Of a structural member in a building or structure) Supporting no vertical weight or load other than its own. This term is used to describe walls, partitions, or other elements that are not part of the primary structural system carrying the weight of the building (like floors and roof) down to the foundation. Their primary function is often to divide space.
The term "nonbearing" is a technical adjective used almost exclusively in architecture, construction, and engineering. It modifies nouns like "wall," "partition," "member," or "element" to specify their structural role. * It is typically used in contrast to a load-bearing or bearing wall, which does support significant vertical weight from above. * Example: The architect's plans indicated which walls were load-bearing and which were nonbearing.
- Nonbearing wall: The most common collocation. Refers to an interior wall that serves only as a space divider and supports no structural load from the roof or floors above.
- Example: They installed a sliding door in the nonbearing wall to create a more open floor plan.
- Non-load-bearing: A hyphenated variant with the same meaning. Often used interchangeably with "nonbearing."
- Example: The inspection report classified it as a non-load-bearing partition.
- Partition (wall): A common synonym for a nonbearing wall, emphasizing its function to divide space.
- Load-bearing (adj.): The direct antonym, describing a structural member that supports vertical loads in addition to its own weight.
- Non-structural
- Non-load-bearing
- Load-bearing
- Bearing
- Structural
- (of a structural member) supporting no vertical weight other than its own
- they took out a nonbearing wall