greenfield meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

greenfield

noun

Etymology From green + field.

Often A site, to be used for housing or commerce, whose previous use (if any) was agricultural.

greenfield development
In 2007 Mr Gilbert [Dan Gilbert] made the then remarkable decision to move Quicken Loans’ suburban headquarters downtown. Mr Gilbert says that the initial thinking was humdrum—the firm’s lease was expiring, the business was growing, and he didn’t want to build a new greenfield campus. But he also had a bigger idea in mind. “We needed to keep young people here [in Michigan] and make sure they weren’t going to places like Chicago,” he says. “We knew that young people did not want to work in suburbs.”2025 October 15, The Economist staff, “A billionaire has rebuilt downtown Detroit. But might Dan Gilbert’s project finally run out of steam?”, in The Economist:

greenfield

adj

Etymology From green + field.

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences, Software Of a completely new development, without the need to integrate with legacy systems, etc.

a greenfield project
When you're working in a greenfield project and have a favorable situation of designing a database from the ground up, you have complete control over your database when it comes to integration tests, if you do it correctly.2015, Mikael Lundin, Testing with F#, Packt Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 148:

1 more example

The NSA provides that approximately $11 billion in new investments will be made by 2028, which includes the initial investment in a greenfield project that would be completed after 2028.2025 June 13, “President Trump Approves Historic Partnership between U. S. Steel and Nippon Steel”, in Business Wire:

Business Previously untapped; free for the taking.

a greenfield market
a greenfield sales opportunity

Related terms: blue-skies, Greenfield, virgin field