infrastructure

American  

[in-fruh-struhk-cher] / ˈɪn frəˌstrʌk tʃər /

noun

1. the fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, as transportation and communication systems, power plants, and schools.

   Investments in infrastructure helped the U.S. economy recover from the Great Depression.

2. the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization.

   Over the years, as the incidence of cancer increased, the infrastructure of the hospital was developed to accommodate the new cases.

   Synonyms:

   support, foundation, basis

3. the military installations of a country.

   We could do much with just a fraction of the billions spent to maintain our robust overseas infrastructure.

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infrastructure British  

/ ˈɪnfrəˌstrʌktʃə /

noun

1. the basic structure of an organization, system, etc

2. the stock of fixed capital equipment in a country, including factories, roads, schools, etc, considered as a determinant of economic growth

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Other Word Forms

• infrastructural adjective

Etymology

Origin of infrastructure

First recorded in 1925–30; infra + structure

Example Sentences

In addition to infrastructure investments in the surrounding roads, the Bears are at risk if they do not know their tax bill.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The Russians said: look, they’re all spying on us, so we need our own infrastructure, our own internet.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The extra cents you pay at the pump are used to fund roads and other transportation infrastructure, making them a perfect example of user-pays excise taxes.

From MarketWatch

At the same time, funding for AI infrastructure is starting to slow and investors are starting to worry about a scarcity of capital.

From The Wall Street Journal

However, there will also be a boost to the economy from Germany’s planned fiscal stimulus, which promises to invest more than $1 trillion in defense and infrastructure projects.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• base
• framework