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

That's higher than the $27 billion figure that was revealed in October, when Meta and Blue Owl Capital formed a joint venture to help with the build-out and management of the facility, originally planned as a 2 GW data center. — Jonathan Vanian, CNBC, 13 July 2026

Crucially, these build-outs would still leave room for a FIFA-sized field to be placed over the blue turf. — Idaho Statesman, 13 July 2026

Schiller said the project was a multimillion-dollar build-out. — Claire Harutunian, Charlotte Observer, 13 July 2026

Experts liken this moment to historical infrastructure build-outs, but with unprecedented urgency, marking a critical inflection point for technology. — Tim Bajarin, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026

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