noun
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a person who builds, esp one who contracts for and supervises the construction or repair of buildings
-
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:
When an AI model is dispensing advice, it doesn’t know the difference between a body builder who wants to lift heavier weights and is consuming enough protein and a malnourished person who isn’t.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 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
Also a no-brainer for Nolan was his choice of Matt Damon, who’d had a key role in “Interstellar” and was hard-nosed master builder Gen. Leslie Groves in “Oppenheimer,” to play Odysseus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
The CEO of Tri Pointe Homes, a home builder, has suggested that expectations around the legislation should be kept in check.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
The gods called the builder into their hall.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
Now, a small number of builders are on a mission to ensure that new data centers don’t have to be eyesores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
In effect, the megastructure would absorb starlight, use that energy for whatever purpose its builders intended, and then radiate the excess as infrared heat.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
It also happened with banks and home builders during the run-up to the 2007-’08 global financial crisis.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
With their flamboyant costumes and choreography, the group became a pop culture phenomenon, targeting disco's large gay audience with camp fantasy characters of butch builders, bikers, cowboys and soldiers.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
This capacity, Beadle understood, was due to the presence of enzymes within the cell—proteins that acted as master builders and could synthesize complex biological macromolecules out of basic precursor chemicals.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
