Word.ws English Dictionary

built up

built up is the alternative form of built-up.

built up is the simple past and past participle of build up.

Meaning of built-up

Adjective

built-up (comparative more built-up, superlative most built-up)

  1. Made of sections or layers, one on top of the other.
    • Built-up weights in the wheels balance the revolving and 50 per cent of the reciprocating weight.1951 June, “British Railways Standard Class "5" 4-6-0 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 400
  2. Having increased in size, quantity, or intensity over time; accumulated.
    • The stained-glass windows were cleaned; years of built-up soil removed from the murals; the wooden pews sanded and refinished, the kneeling benches covered with soft new carpeting.2008, Mary Higgins Clark, Where Are You Now?
  3. Constructed or enhanced.
    • She picketed the skewbald paint with the others, then filled the coffeepot at the creek and started a fresh batch brewing on the built-up fire.2012, Tabor Evans, Longarm and the Sins of Laughing Lyle
  4. Having buildings, especially having residences and high population density.
    • It was all more built-up, she claimed, more busy; and there were objects around which were new and unidentifiable.2012, SK Webb, The Deviant Apparition
  5. (UK) (of an area of land) Having street lights and therefore subject to a 30 mph speed limit.
  6. (Europe) (of an area of land) Having specific traffic signaling and therefore usually subject to a maximum 50 km/h speed limit.
    • He contended that the speed limit of 80 km/h on motorways, outside a built-up area, which concerns inter alia goods vehicles did not apply to such a vehicle, which is subject to the limits relating to passenger cars.

Meaning of build up

Verb

build up (third-person singular simple present builds up, present participle building up, simple past and past participle built up)

  1. To erect; to construct.
    • Near-synonym: build out
  2. To close up by building.
    • to build up a door
  3. (idiomatic, intransitive, transitive) To accumulate: to increase incrementally or continually.
    • Ever since the secretary left, the letters in my inbox have started to build up.
  4. (idiomatic, transitive) To strengthen.
    • They had to build up their fortress to protect against attack.
  5. In solitaire card games, to place a card over another card of lower value. (e.g., place 5♦ over 4♣)
    Antonyms:
    build down

Forms of built up

comparativemore built up
superlativemost built up

Questions about built up

What is built up the alternative form of?
Built up is the alternative form of built-up.

Words near built up in the dictionary

  1. built like a tank
  2. built on
  3. built on sand
  4. built out
  5. built the plane while flying it
  6. built up
  7. built upon
  8. built-in
  9. built-in function
  10. built-in functions
  11. built-in obsolescence

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: built up (page history and authors); built-up (page history and authors); build up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “built up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/built_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.