a city in SE Wisconsin, near Milwaukee.
a city in NW Massachusetts.
a town in central Indiana.
A piece of usually semirural property that is undeveloped except for agricultural use, especially one considered as a site for expanding urban development.
Compare brownfield
First recorded in 1940–45 as an adjective; current sense dates from 2000–05; green ( def. ) + field ( def. )
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
South Korean conglomerate HD Hyundai plans to dramatically increase India’s domestic ship building capacity with a port expansion and greenfield port development in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India’s hub for export-oriented automotive industries.
From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026
Muse noted the potential for “relative outperformance” this year, with “help from Samsung as a meaningfully stronger customer in 2026, as well as Applied’s strong leverage to greenfield investments.”
From MarketWatch • Feb. 12, 2026
Rio Tinto struggled to articulate how it will grow copper beyond 2030 while Glencore showcased a pipeline of brown and greenfield copper projects, he says.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026
The event is now the largest greenfield festival in the world and Worthy Farm turns into a temporary city with a population of about 200,000 when it is on.
From BBC • Oct. 17, 2025
But does anyone really believe that it would be less disruptive, less controversial, more convenient and more cost-effective to develop a greenfield site deep in the outback?
From Seattle Times • Nov. 3, 2023
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.
