noun
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a person who builds, esp one who contracts for and supervises the construction or repair of buildings
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a substance added to a soap or detergent as a filler or abrasive
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of builder
First recorded in 1350–1400, builder is from the Middle English word bildere. See build, -er 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Berkeley Group, London’s biggest house builder, welcomed the changes—but still warned it was scaling back its business in response to the “unprecedented increase in cost and regulation” in recent years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Ultimately, the tech specialist said, its results would turn on the threshold set for evidence of fraud: “It’s up to the builder of the system to define the guidelines.”
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
The price cuts vary based on several factors, including the type of builder and geography.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
Salgado, 52, had been working as a builder for three decades in the Houston area after coming to the US as an undocumented migrant, his family said.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
“We’ve got cedars from Lebanon due at the sawmill in Oslo to be turned into shingles for the builder in Cape Cod. C.O.D. And then there’s the peas.”
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Below are the 10 U.S. metro areas where the largest share of builders have cut prices on new homes, according to an analysis from Realtor.com.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
With buyers back on the sidelines, home builders are struggling to sell newly built houses.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
Data-center builders and operators across the U.S. are working with bankers to sell majority equity stakes worth tens of billions of dollars in their companies this summer, according to people familiar with the efforts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Plus, data-center builders are racing to offload stakes worth billions, and the superrich are snapping up neighboring properties to create private compounds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Nico had some undead builders working on the Hades cabin.
From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
