Tower vs. Turret

By Jaxson

Main Difference

The main difference between Tower and Turret is that the Tower is a structure with height greater than width and Turret is a fortification feature.

  • Tower

    A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.

    Towers are specifically distinguished from “buildings” in that they are not built to be habitable but to serve other functions. The principal function is the use of their height to enable various functions to be achieved including: visibility of other features attached to the tower such clock towers; as part of a larger structure or device to increase the visibility of the surroundings for defensive purposes as in a fortified building such as a castle; as a structure for observation for leisure purposes; or as a structure for telecommunication purposes.Towers can be stand alone structures or be supported by adjacent buildings or can be a feature on top of a large structure or building.

  • Turret

    In architecture, a turret (from Italian: torretta, little tower; Latin: turris, tower) is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification. As their military use faded, turrets were used for decorative purposes, as in the Scottish baronial style.

    A turret can have a circular top with crenelations as seen in the picture at right, a pointed roof, or other kind of apex. It might contain a staircase if it projects higher than the building; however, a turret is not necessarily higher than the rest of the building; in this case, it is typically part of a room, that can be simply walked into – see the turret of Chateau de Chaumont on the collection of turrets, which also illustrates a turret on a modern skyscraper.

    A building may have both towers and turrets; turrets might be smaller or higher but turrets instead project from the edge of a building rather than continue to the ground. The size of a turret is therefore limited, since it puts additional stresses on the structure of the building. Turrets were traditionally supported by a corbel.

    In modern times, a gun turret is a weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon, allowing the weapon to be aimed and fired in some degree of azimuth and elevation. It can be found on warships, combat vehicles, military aircraft, and land fortifications, and usually offers some degree of armour or protection.

Wikipedia
  • Tower (noun)

    A very tall iron-framed structure, usually painted red and white, on which microwave, radio, satellite, or other communication antennas are installed; mast.

  • Tower (noun)

    A similarly framed structure with a platform or enclosed area on top, used as a lookout for spotting fires, plane crashes, fugitives, etc.

  • Tower (noun)

    A water tower.

  • Tower (noun)

    A control tower.

  • Tower (noun)

    Any very tall building or structure; skyscraper.

    “The Sears Tower”

  • Tower (noun)

    Any item, such as a computer case, that is usually higher than it is wide.

  • Tower (noun)

    An interlocking tower.

  • Tower (noun)

    A strong refuge; a defence.

  • Tower (noun)

    A tall fashionable headdress worn in the time of King William III and Queen Anne.

  • Tower (noun)

    High flight; elevation.

  • Tower (noun)

    The sixteenth Tarot decks, usually deemed an ill omen.

  • Tower (noun)

    The nineteenth Lenormand card, representing structure, bureaucracy, stability and loneliness.

  • Tower (noun)

    One who tows.

  • Tower (verb)

    To be very tall.

    “The office block towered into the sky.”

  • Tower (verb)

    To be high or lofty; to soar.

  • Tower (verb)

    To soar into.

  • Turret (noun)

    A little tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the corners of a building or castle.

  • Turret (noun)

    A stories and sometimes one hundred and twenty necessaries.

  • Turret (noun)

    A tower-like solder post on a turret board (a circuit board with posts instead of holes).

  • Turret (noun)

    An armoured, rotating gun installation on a fort, ship, aircraft, or armoured fighting vehicle.

  • Turret (noun)

    The elevated central portion of the roof of a passenger car, with sides that are pierced for light and ventilation.

Wiktionary
  • Tower (noun)

    a tall, narrow building, either free-standing or forming part of a building such as a church or castle

    “the south-west tower is a wonderful example of late Gothic”

  • Tower (noun)

    a fortress or stronghold in the form of or including a tower.

  • Tower (noun)

    see Tower of London

  • Tower (noun)

    a tall structure that houses machinery, operators, etc.

    “a control tower”

  • Tower (noun)

    a tall structure used as a receptacle or for storage

    “a CD tower”

  • Tower (noun)

    a tall pile or mass of something

    “a titanic tower of garbage”

  • Tower (verb)

    rise to or reach a great height

    “he seemed to tower over everyone else”

  • Tower (verb)

    (of a bird) soar to a great height, especially (of a falcon) so as to be able to swoop down on the quarry.

  • Turret (noun)

    a small tower on top of a larger tower or at the corner of a building or wall, typically of a castle

    “a castle with fairy-tale turrets”

  • Turret (noun)

    a low armoured tower, typically one that revolves, for a gun and gunners in a ship, aircraft, fort, or tank.

  • Turret (noun)

    a rotating holder for tools, especially on a lathe.

Oxford Dictionary

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