infrastructure

[in-fruh-struhk-cher]

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.

infrastructure

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• infrastructural adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of infrastructure¹

First recorded in 1925–30; infra + structure

Example Sentences

Beijing seeks to dominate the world’s strategic sectors, including emerging technologies, critical minerals, infrastructure and information.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It said it had found parts of its infrastructure with connectivity issues, and was working to "reroute affected traffic to restore service health".

Read more on BBC

Technology companies are spending these gargantuan sums to build AI infrastructure because they believe end customers, mainly businesses, will soon pay them gigantic amounts to run AI applications.

Read more on MarketWatch

Federal officials have warned that an extended shutdown is further straining America’s already Balkanized, understaffed air travel infrastructure—from agents who screen passengers to air-traffic controllers.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

That’s a reminder hardware and infrastructure stocks are still where the profits are for now.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• base 
• framework