infrastructure

American  

[in-fruh-struhk-cher] / ˈɪn frəˌstrʌk tʃər /

noun

• infrastructures
  plural

1. 

   the fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, as transportation and communication systems, power plants, and schools.

   Investments in infrastructure helped the U.S. economy recover from the Great Depression.

2. the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization.

   Over the years, as the incidence of cancer increased, the infrastructure of the hospital was developed to accommodate the new cases.

   Synonyms:

   support, foundation, basis

3. the military installations of a country.

   We could do much with just a fraction of the billions spent to maintain our robust overseas infrastructure.

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infrastructure British  

/ ˈɪnfrəˌstrʌktʃə /

noun

1. the basic structure of an organization, system, etc

2. the stock of fixed capital equipment in a country, including factories, roads, schools, etc, considered as a determinant of economic growth

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• infrastructural
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• infrastructures
  plural

Etymology

Origin of infrastructure

First recorded in 1925–30; infra + structure

Explanation

The infrastructure is the basic foundation or underlying framework of an organization or system. In your house, the infrastructure is the system of beams, weight-bearing walls and the foundation that keeps it standing. Infrastructure often refers to the equipment and structures required by the military or by a country or region. Roads, bridges, and school buildings are part of our nation's infrastructure, and are necessary for the continued growth of our communities. This word was formed as a compound in English, using the prefix infra- "below, underneath."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

infrastructure infrastructures

Macron said he had already ordered a plan to protect the country's critical infrastructure and defence industry sites.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

“We hadn’t had a growth market in infrastructure in 30 to 40 years,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

The trend is being driven by the shortage of memory chips, and accompanying soaring costs, stemming from the massive buildout of artificial-intelligence infrastructure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Part of the US advantage stems from the vast sums being invested in leading AI companies as the frontier labs burn through mountains of cash to build the infrastructure to train new models.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

“You don’t get somebody down here with some food, and fast, you’re gonna have infrastructure concerns,” Patience told whoever was on the call.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

By contrast stablecoins move through proprietary, fragmented infrastructures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026

National infrastructures in many cases are not able to sustain mass-market electrification.

From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026

Even if these infrastructures are not directly hit—Tehran is a city of 14 million people in a densely populated urban environment.

From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2026

More than $97 million was recovered and 11,432 malicious infrastructures were dismantled.

From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026

Some information technology experts warned that computers would not be able to distinguish the correct meaning of 00, resulting in widespread failure of vital infrastructures.

From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Related Words

• base
• framework