building
Americannoun
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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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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
Related Words
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
- buildingless adjective
- underbuilding noun
Etymology
Origin of building
First recorded in 1250–1300, building is from the Middle English word byldinge. See build, -ing 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.
As we approached the broad face of the 1930s federal building that had served as Carville’s hospital, I tried to catch my father’s eye, but I couldn’t read his face.
From Salon
For the rest of 2023, they “lived like monks,” resisting outside hires and focused maniacally on building a user-friendly tool.
"It's such a different thing from building a spreadsheet at work," he added.
From BBC
"I think that was a big statement on where we are and what we're fighting for. We've come a long way, we're building on result after result and I think we showed that."
From Barron's
It is the latest acquisition by the Wall Street firm to broaden its offerings to clients outside of traditional investing and furthers Chief Executive David Solomon’s goal of building up the bank’s asset-management division.
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.
