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Synonyms

outbuilding

American  
[out-bil-ding] / ˈaʊtˌbɪl dɪŋ /

noun

  1. a detached building building subordinate to a main building. building.

outbuilding British  
/ ˈaʊtˌbɪldɪŋ /

noun

  1. a building subordinate to but separate from a main building; outhouse

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of outbuilding

First recorded in 1620–30; out- + building

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A 52-year-old man was found dead in an outbuilding off the A1133 in Langford, near Newark in Nottinghamshire, shortly after 10:15 GMT on Saturday.

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025

The Wiltshire Council signed off on his plans to build an ornamental outbuilding, a three-story extension, the lake and a driveway that curves around it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2025

As armed officers moved into Knowles's garden in Milford Avenue, drone footage captured the moment he emerged from an outbuilding with his hands up before being handcuffed in front of his bonfire.

From BBC • Jun. 10, 2025

Thursday and found two mobile homes ablaze and an outbuilding also damaged.

From Washington Times • Nov. 25, 2023

They would give the strangers whatever weapons or pigs or cattle they’d saved from destruction, and the strangers would give them an outbuilding, the worst of their food, and some straw.

From "Grendel" by John Gardner

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.