infrastructure

American  

[in-fruh-struhk-cher] / ˈɪn frəˌstrʌk tʃər /

noun

• infrastructures
  plural

1. the fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, as transportation and communication systems, power plants, and schools.

   Investments in infrastructure helped the U.S. economy recover from the Great Depression.

2. the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization.

   Over the years, as the incidence of cancer increased, the infrastructure of the hospital was developed to accommodate the new cases.

   Synonyms:

   support, foundation, basis

3. the military installations of a country.

   We could do much with just a fraction of the billions spent to maintain our robust overseas infrastructure.

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infrastructure British  

/ ˈɪnfrəˌstrʌktʃə /

noun

1. the basic structure of an organization, system, etc

2. the stock of fixed capital equipment in a country, including factories, roads, schools, etc, considered as a determinant of economic growth

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• infrastructural
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• infrastructures
  plural

Etymology

Origin of infrastructure

First recorded in 1925–30; infra + structure

Explanation

The infrastructure is the basic foundation or underlying framework of an organization or system. In your house, the infrastructure is the system of beams, weight-bearing walls and the foundation that keeps it standing. Infrastructure often refers to the equipment and structures required by the military or by a country or region. Roads, bridges, and school buildings are part of our nation's infrastructure, and are necessary for the continued growth of our communities. This word was formed as a compound in English, using the prefix infra- "below, underneath."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

infrastructure infrastructures

The Agents and Infra segment will encompass apps and agents, which include Microsoft 365 and GitHub, the multi-model system grounded in rich-enterprise context, and global-scale Azure infrastructure, Microsoft said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

"Every single country needs to build infrastructure so that you can support your own local economy," he said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

Recent upgrades to the plants helped reduce that pollution, and the federal government has dedicated about $650 million to repair and replace aging wastewater infrastructure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Lord O'Neill believes showing investors he can be decisive on the state pension or the welfare bill will give him breathing room to focus on his favoured infrastructure investments.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

The scale of their constructions and their agriculture infrastructure required sophisticated civic and social organization.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Furthermore, Mediterranean countries have very extensive tourism infrastructures.

From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026

By contrast stablecoins move through proprietary, fragmented infrastructures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026

Even if these infrastructures are not directly hit—Tehran is a city of 14 million people in a densely populated urban environment.

From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2026

The joint statement outlines the terms of "de-escalation", which includes ceasing "attacks on civilians, civilian objects and infrastructures, and military objectives of either side".

From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2025

Some information technology experts warned that computers would not be able to distinguish the correct meaning of 00, resulting in widespread failure of vital infrastructures.

From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Related Words

• base
• framework