buildup

noun

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build·up | \ ˈbild-ˌəp

Definition of buildup

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : something produced by building up fluid buildup in the lungs

2 : the act or process of building up

build up

verb

built up; building up; builds up

Definition of build up (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to develop gradually by increments building up endurance built up a library

2 : to promote the health, strength, esteem, or reputation of

intransitive verb

: to accumulate or develop appreciably

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Examples of buildup in a Sentence

Noun There is a big traffic buildup on the highway. You should clean the mechanism regularly to prevent buildup of dirt. Both players were given big buildups before the game. Verb static electricity built up on the cat's fur the roller coaster built up momentum

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Also know this: The buildup to Alabama at A&M this fall should be tremendous, with protégé once again trying to take down mentor. — Brent Zwerneman, ExpressNews.com, "A No. 4 ranking is nice for A&M, but it’s a long way up to No. 1 and Alabama," 12 Jan. 2021 Not quite — but the buildup was a special time for the fans. — Bruce Jenkins, SFChronicle.com, "From 49ers’ Super Bowl to Gabe Kapler’s debut season, 2020 sports had its moments," 30 Dec. 2020 Such has been the case with all aspects of the college football season that’s taken place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the buildup to Wednesday’s matchup hasn’t been typical. — Khobi Price, sun-sentinel.com, "FAU Owls look to stay undefeated in bowl games in Montgomery Bowl matchup against Memphis," 22 Dec. 2020 Elsewhere in the series, several figures say or imply that Reagan’s arms buildup was unnecessary, given that the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse before Reagan came to power. — Alvin S. Felzenberg, National Review, "Showtime’s Pathetic Exercise in Reagan Bashing," 19 Dec. 2020 The buildup is politically sensitive because of Japan’s pacifist tradition in the postwar era and its constitutional prohibition on possessing war potential. — Chieko Tsuneoka, WSJ, "Japan Plans Its Own Missiles Able to Hit North Korea," 9 Dec. 2020 The buildup was phenomenal, trash talking on both sides through the media, and a pretty good game, 13-10, Nittany Lions. — Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, "Red All Over: I got on the plane, then the Utes game got canceled. Ugh.," 19 Nov. 2020 In between the scoring plays, Johnson said the buildup of momentum was contagious. — Tess Demeyer, Dallas News, "No. 4 state ranked Allen starts fast, dominates No. 11 Denton Guyer en route to 80th straight regular season win," 13 Nov. 2020 The buildup is everything and the Valak painting scene perfects it. — Troy L. Smith, cleveland, "30 best horror movie scenes of the 21st century," 29 Oct. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Through his online courses, he's reached hundreds of thousands of students to build up their analytics and marketing skills. — NOLA.com, "Get certified in Google Analytics in 48 hours for just $14," 8 Feb. 2021 Priority Life was one such agent, and Integrity has spent the last few years buying up growing insurance marketing groups to build up the company. — Dallas News, "Coppell’s growing Integrity Marketing Group makes third acquisition of the year," 2 Feb. 2021 When enough mutations build up, a new variant emerges that is genetically separate from its parent and behaves in a notably different way. — Erin Allday, SFChronicle.com, "Can vaccines keep up with coronavirus mutations? Bay Area variant will be a test," 19 Jan. 2021 To build up these threats, Trump latched on to anecdotal evidence as proof. — cleveland, "New study examines how Donald Trump used Twitter to craft an alternate reality for his followers," 17 Jan. 2021 Once populations build up, if controls are not implemented, mealybugs can cause significant damage, including leaf yellowing and curling as the plant weakens. — Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, "Mealybugs can put houseplants in a sticky situation — here’s how to get rid of them," 27 Dec. 2020 In every corner of the country, investors, entrepreneurs and local officials are in a frenzy to build up semiconductor abilities, responding to a call from the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, to rely less on the outside world in key technologies. — New York Times, "With Money, and Waste, China Fights for Chip Independence," 24 Dec. 2020 But Biden and his incoming administration have every reason to go further—and, like those legislators four decades ago, create an entirely new paradigm for how to build up America’s anti-corruption antibodies. — Casey Michel, The New Republic, "How to Make Kleptocrats Fear America Again," 23 Dec. 2020 Working together as a team to build up strength, endurance and precision perfectly fits with the Olympic spirit. — Michael Taube, WSJ, "Breakdancing Comes to the Olympics," 23 Dec. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'buildup.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.