assembly line

American  

noun

1. an arrangement of machines, tools, and workers in which a product is assembled by having each perform a specific, successive operation on an incomplete unit as it passes by in a series of stages organized in a direct line.

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assembly line British  

noun

1. a sequence of machines, tools, operations, workers, etc, in a factory, arranged so that at each stage a further process is carried out

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assembly line Cultural  

1. A line of factory workers and equipment along which a product being assembled passes consecutively from operation to operation until completed.

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Assembly lines are found in many industries but are particularly associated with automobile manufacturing.

Etymology

Origin of assembly line

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15

Example Sentences

Tesla said last month that the first Cybercab had rolled off the assembly line as the company aims to begin volume production of a vehicle that lacks both pedals and a steering wheel.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 4, 2026

For starters, current robots aren’t built on an assembly line and likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026

Now, amid a national housing shortage, the question felt as pressing as ever: What if construction could harness the speed, efficiency, quality control and cost-savings of the assembly line?

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2026

In clipped, fast-moving scenes, Mr. Sayles shifts between the boardroom and the assembly line, and radiates out to develop the roles of attendant characters, from journalists to labor activists to gangsters and rumrunners.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026

They worked as an assembly line, with each man assigned to specific tasks that he applied to one identical house after another.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Related Words

• production line