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

This year was expected to be a big one for AI spending with Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft announcing plans to invest more than $300 billion combined on AI technologies and data center build-outs. —Tasmin Lockwood, CNBC, 31 Oct. 2025

Large-scale data-center build-outs may already be reshaping America’s energy systems. —Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 30 Oct. 2025

And a massive build-out is going to take years. —Caroline Mimbs Nyce, New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2025

At build-out, Riverwalk will include 4,300 residential units, 152,000 square feet of retail stores, 1 million square feet of office space and a new trolley stop. —Jennifer Van Grove, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Oct. 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