builder

From Middle English byldere, buyldere, perhaps dissimilated (with change of suffix) from Old English bylda (“builder”), equivalent to build +‎ -er. Compare also Old English bȳtla (“hammerer, builder”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪl.də/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪl.dɚ/, [ˈbɪɫ.ɾɚ]
• Rhymes: -ɪldə(ɹ)

builder (plural builders)

1. A person who builds or constructs things.
2. (trade) Master artisan, who receives his instructions from the architect, and employs workers.
3. (rare, bodybuilding) A bodybuilder.
   • 1991, Samuel Wilson Fussell, chapter 4, in Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder:

     In the competitions, bodybuilders go through "mandatories"—a set of mandatory poses—in the morning, where the judges compare the body parts of the builders.

4. Software that allows the user to create a certain kind of automated output.
   • 1987, Proceedings, International Foundation for Telemetering Conference - Volume 23, page 287:

     To cut coding time and to insure maintainability of the algorithms, an "algorithm builder tool" was constructed.

   • 1999, Michael Zeiler, Modeling Our World: The ESRI Guide to Geodatabase Design, page 46:

     A map builder uses map layers from several sources and adds data to make a custom map.

   • 2013, David Feldman, Jason Himmelstein, Developing Business Intelligence Apps for SharePoint, page 217:

     Many users may find this easier to use as each field is clearly displayed and the user interface provides a formula builder and a Check formula function.

• (a person who builds or constructs things): constructor

• (antonym(s) of “a person who builds or constructs things”): destroyer, wrecker

• building worker
• construction worker

• rebuild