infrastructure

American  

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

noun

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

• infrastructural adjective

Etymology

Origin of infrastructure

First recorded in 1925–30; infra + structure

Example Sentences

Miss Crooks had let her children play in the waste land and had previously had no concerns about the drainage infrastructure.

From BBC

CEO Arvind Krishna — responding to a question from Thill — told analysts on a conference call that IBM is benefiting because companies need software to manage the increased infrastructure, AI services and compute they’re using.

From MarketWatch

Among risks supporting prices are possible U.S. action against Iran and continuing Ukrainian strikes on Russia export infrastructure, he says.

From The Wall Street Journal

Failing infrastructure causes regular supply disruptions and has sparked angry protests by communities forced to rely on water tanks brought in by municipalities or NGOs.

From Barron's

Reportedly the largest private investment in Africa's energy infrastructure, the Mozambique LNG project is expected to generate thousands of jobs and help make the country one of the world's biggest LNG exporters.

From Barron's

Related Words

• base
• framework