Meaning & use
newbuild
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableBritish
A house or other building that has only just been constructed and has never had anyone living or working in it.
Grammar: Has a plural: the street is full of newbuilds.
Patterns
- buy a newbuild
- a newbuild on something
They sold their Victorian terrace and bought a newbuild on the edge of town.
Most of the newbuilds on this estate have tiny gardens.
A newbuild usually comes with a ten-year structural warranty.
adjectivebefore a nounBritish
Describing a property that was recently built, rather than an older one that has been lived in.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: a newbuild flat, not the flat is newbuild.
Patterns
- a newbuild home
- newbuild properties
We viewed three newbuild flats near the station.
The agency specialises in newbuild homes for first-time buyers.
Newbuild prices often drop once the developer has finished selling.
Word forms
| plural | newbuilds |
|---|
Common combinations
- buy a newbuild
- Buying a newbuild means you rarely need to fix anything in the first few years.
- newbuild estate
- The newbuild estate has a small shop but no school yet.
- newbuild premium
- Buyers often pay a newbuild premium that disappears after a year.
- newbuild development
- A large newbuild development is planned beside the river.
- newbuild snagging
- Newbuild snagging lists can include loose tiles and badly hung doors.
Synonyms and how they differ
- new home
- New home is a plain everyday phrase, while newbuild stresses that the property was built recently by a developer.
- new construction
- New construction is the usual American phrase and sounds more like trade or real-estate language than newbuild.
- development
- A development is a whole group of buildings, whereas a newbuild can be one single house.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: newbuild or renovation?
newbuild vs renovation
A renovation is an old building that has been repaired and improved. A newbuild is constructed from nothing.
Practice
Which sentence uses newbuild correctly?
Choose one answer.
A newbuild is a recently constructed property that has never been occupied, so the second sentence fits. The others describe old or restored buildings, which contradicts the word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “newbuild”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.