build-out

noun

ˈbild-ˌau̇t 

variants or less commonly buildout

plural build-outs also buildouts

1

a

: work done to make a structure or system ready for use or to bring a construction or development project to a completed state

When the build-out of the campus is complete, as many as 7,500 students will attend class there.

—Janis L. Magin

b

: work done to expand a system (such as a telecommunications system)

The buildout of new infrastructure for digital cellular telephony is at such an early stage that it's impossible to predict what the performance of some of the systems will be.

—Brian C. Fenton

c

: a project or process involving such work

Of course, the Chinese are traveling and spending more in their own country too, in part because of a gigantic infrastructure build-out; China will have constructed more high-speed-rail capacity by the end of the decade than is currently operating in the rest of the world, some 10,000 miles' (16,000 km) worth.

—Bill Saporito

2

: a state in which an area has been fully developed

At build-out, the community is planned to include retail, restaurant and office space, a hotel, urban-style and loft apartments, townhomes, and condominiums.

—The Flower Mound (Texas) Leader

Examples of build-out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Amazon’s plans to spend $75 billion in capital expenditures this year is surely a good sign for the health of the AI infrastructure build-out thesis. —Jeff Marks, CNBC, 1 Nov. 2024

Between the lines: Hudson's Detroit expects to be complete by next year so commercial tenants can start their build-out processes, according to a spokesperson. —Annalise Frank, Axios, 16 Oct. 2024

Beginning construction of State Route 30, a new highway that would parallel Interstate 10 but a few miles south, connecting Buckeye to Phoenix at full build-out. —Taylor Seely, The Arizona Republic, 3 Oct. 2024

Initially, Delahanty expected the rundown Victorian house set to be the home of AHOY, would be the first undertaking of the nearly $4 million museum build-out. —Olivia Evans, The Courier-Journal, 30 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1955, in the meaning defined at sense 1a