building society

British

noun

a cooperative organization that accepts deposits of money from savers and uses them to make loans, secured by mortgages, to house buyers. Since 1986 they have been empowered to offer banking services

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Bucking the trend of banks shutting stores, Nationwide, the UK's biggest building society, has pledged to keep all of its remaining 696 branches open until at least 2030.

From BBC • Jan. 29, 2026

And the building society said it wanted to protect vulnerable people and offer more support services.

From BBC • Nov. 11, 2025

Veronica Lewis says that the banking hub is "brilliant", but that she can't come with her husband as he is with Nationwide, a building society which is not included in the hub model.

From BBC • Oct. 23, 2025

A proposed change to banking rules will increase significantly the amount of savers' money that is protected when a bank or building society goes under.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2025

When "jerry" builders are large customers of a building society and have some influence, direct or indirect, with its Board of Directors, the evil is greatly aggravated.

From Everybody's Guide to Money Matters: with a description of the various investments chiefly dealt in on the stock exchange, and the mode of dealing therein by Cotton, William

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023