purpose-built

adjective

pur·​pose-built ˌpər-pəs-ˈbilt How to pronounce purpose-built (audio)
chiefly British
: built for a particular purpose

Examples of purpose-built in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Asus purpose-built the Ascent QN10 mini PC as an agentic AI tool to help this process along. — Michael Justin Allen Sexton, PC Magazine, 17 Oct. 2026 Robotaxis have rolled out in cities around the world, but the Tensor Robocar is the first fully autonomous vehicle purpose-built for private ownership. — Matt Alderton, Time, 15 Oct. 2026 Universities are purpose-built to resist change of almost any kind. — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 17 Sep. 2026 While some martech vendors will scramble to bolt AI onto legacy platforms, the ones who will likely conquer have been purpose-built for the AI-first era. — Rafael Flores, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for purpose-built

Word History

First Known Use

1954, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of purpose-built was in 1954

Rhymes for purpose-built

See All Rhymes for purpose-built

Browse Nearby Words

purpose
purpose-built
purposedly
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Purpose-built.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/purpose-built. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of milieu

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All