Definition of "pediment"

pediment

/ˈpɛd.ɪ.mənt/

noun
plural pediments
1. (architecture) A classical architectural element consisting of a triangular section or gable found above the horizontal superstructure (entablature) which lies immediately upon the columns; fronton.
  Quotations
  Passing the Congregation Shearith Israel on Central Park West (a white whale of a building with a triangular pediment supported by four count ’em four massive Corinthian columns), Professor Solanka scurrying through the downpour remembered the newly bat-mitzvahed thirteen-year-old girl he’d glimpsed through the side door, […]
  2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, page 5
2. (geology) A very gently sloping (0.5°-7°) inclined bedrock surface.