- present participle of build.
building
Americannoun
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buildings
plural
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a relatively permanent enclosed construction over a plot of land, having a roof and usually windows and often more than one level, used for any of a wide variety of activities, as living, entertaining, or manufacturing.
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anything built or constructed.
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the act, business, or practice of constructing houses, office buildings, etc.
noun
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something built with a roof and walls, such as a house or factory
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the act, business, occupation, or art of building houses, boats, etc
Synonym Usage
Building, edifice, structure refer to something built. Building and structure may apply to either a finished or an unfinished product of construction, and carry no implications as to size or condition. Edifice is a more formal word and narrower in application, referring to a completed structure, and usually a large and imposing one. Building generally connotes a useful purpose (houses, schools, business offices, etc.); structure suggests the planning and constructive process.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of building
First recorded in 1250–1300, building is from the Middle English word byldinge. See build, -ing 1
Explanation
Building is the process of making something. Building Lego cities and towns is the favorite activity of many kids. When a construction company is building a structure like a grocery store or a school, you can say it's building a building. Anything from a small house to a skyscraper can be called a building, and both meanings of the word come from the verb build, with its Old English root byldan, "build or construct a house."
Vocabulary lists containing building
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:
Fortastra, a Torrance, Calif.-headquartered startup building maneuverable spacecraft for on-orbit security, closed a $30 million Series A investment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The court, housed in a shiny glass building on the outskirts of The Hague, employs around 900 staff from 100 nationalities.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Longbow said the UK was good at building lightweight sports cars.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
The Morel Corp. is building a stately eco dome on a remote Greek island: a refuge for plutocratic preppers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
I ran around to the outside of the building.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
“They have destroyed a lot of buildings to build these outposts, and that is something that can’t be undone, but they could easily leave these giant dirt berms where they are.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Vivmark typically owns upscale apartment buildings, often in more expensive areas such as on the coasts.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Most of Walmart’s supply-chain buildings were built in the 1980s and ’90s, so about 80% of its automation construction projects are retrofits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Her school buildings, she added, were "boiling hot" during the recent heat waves.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
They were living in rubble heaps, half-standing buildings, and abandoned army trucks.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
