brick and mortar
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.63 in modern English
25
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
4
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Buildings and property for the conduct of business, particularly in the sale of retail goods to the general public. (Used to contrast an Internet-based sales operation that lacks customer-oriented store fronts and a "traditional" one for which most capital investment might be in the building infrastructure.)
adj
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see brick, and, mortar.
Example Sentences
- "Brick and mortar retail stores face online competition."
- "E-commerce is not the kiss of death for big, traditional brick-and-mortar business."
Usage
- British usage
- Uncountable