buildup

[bild-uhp]

a building up, as of military forces; increase in amount or number.

a process of growth; strengthening; development: the buildup of heavy industry.

an accumulation, as of a particular type of material: a buildup of salt deposits.

an increase, as in potential, intensity, or pressure: A buildup of suspense began halfway through the movie.

a progressive or sequential development: the buildup of helium atoms from hydrogen.

praise or publicity designed to enhance a reputation or popularize someone or something: The studio spent $100,000 on the new star's buildup.

a process of preparation designed to make possible the achievement of an ultimate objective: a lengthy buildup to a sales pitch.

encouragement; a psychological lift: Every time I need a buildup, I look at her picture.

Origin of buildup

1925–30, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase build up

The whole season for me was about the buildup to the wedding.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Personal Stories Behind His 'Modern Family' Marriage Arc
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
August 12, 2014
That sounds small, but the buildup of Hezbollah forces in Syria was gradual, too.
Hezbollah’s Widening War Spreads to Iraq
Jamie Dettmer
August 1, 2014
The core of the story is set against the backdrop of the Iraq invasion, the buildup, and the immediate aftermath.
Newsweek Takedown From Beyond the Grave: Michael Hastings’s Fiction Tells the Truth
Christopher Dickey
June 18, 2014
One theory revolves around 9/11 and the buildup to the first Iraq War.
Skewed
Joe Concha
May 7, 2014
Chatterjee and his team found that D-PDMP almost totally eliminated the buildup of cholesterol in vital regions of the body.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Come Closer to Eliminating Heart Disease
Dale Eisinger
April 25, 2014

Of course it was another piece of callow whistling in the dark, but it was a buildup, too.
The Planet Strappers
Raymond Zinke Gallun
But information about the precise results of their ordinary use and their buildup in nature accumulates very slowly.
The Nation's River
United States Department of the Interior