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

But now, there’s been a “revaluation of infrastructure that is difficult and expensive to replicate,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

Sony uses Bastion for stablecoin custody, payments infrastructure and issuance, and has plans to introduce stablecoin payments into its gaming and entertainment ecosystem.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

In his new role, Anand will work across Disney to modernize its development and implementation of tech, as well as overseeing data and AI platforms, enterprise technology and infrastructure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

Kang views investment in infrastructure as part of a wider remit to ensure female athletes are no longer treated differently from their male counterparts.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

The machine strained the technological infrastructure of Altar, which had electricity for only six hours a day.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

By contrast stablecoins move through proprietary, fragmented infrastructures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 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

"When core infrastructures like cloud, AI or platforms are controlled from outside Europe, so are the rules, the data and ultimately the leverage."

From Barron's ● Feb. 5, 2026

"The proposed decentralized latency-aware peer-selection mechanism can serve as a foundation for future blockchain platforms that support real-time, mission-critical IoT services, ultimately enabling more secure, responsive, and trustworthy digital infrastructures," explains Dr. Nguyen.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 22, 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