build-out

noun

ˈbild-ˌau̇t 

variants or less commonly buildout

plural build-outs also buildouts

1

a

: work done to make a structure or system ready for use or to bring a construction or development project to a completed state

When the build-out of the campus is complete, as many as 7,500 students will attend class there.

—Janis L. Magin

b

: work done to expand a system (such as a telecommunications system)

The buildout of new infrastructure for digital cellular telephony is at such an early stage that it's impossible to predict what the performance of some of the systems will be.

—Brian C. Fenton

c

: a project or process involving such work

Of course, the Chinese are traveling and spending more in their own country too, in part because of a gigantic infrastructure build-out; China will have constructed more high-speed-rail capacity by the end of the decade than is currently operating in the rest of the world, some 10,000 miles' (16,000 km) worth.

—Bill Saporito

2

: a state in which an area has been fully developed

At build-out, the community is planned to include retail, restaurant and office space, a hotel, urban-style and loft apartments, townhomes, and condominiums.

—The Flower Mound (Texas) Leader

Examples of build-out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Electrification, grid expansion and data-center build-outs require large amounts of the metal for wiring, power transmission and cooling infrastructure. —Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 15 Dec. 2025

The full Barnwood build-out will come in phases, comprising 1,050 total housing units, Bailey Engineers stated in its report on behalf of the applicants. —Mark Dee, Idaho Statesman, 14 Dec. 2025

Initial lease deals were percentage sale rents and the landlord paying for build-outs. —David Moin, Footwear News, 10 Dec. 2025

The plateau reflects how China’s record-setting build-out of wind and solar power and rapid expansion into electric vehicles has tempered fossil-fuel emissions, according to the nonprofit Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. —Andrea Thompson, Scientific American, 4 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1902, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for build-out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout