assembly line

American  

noun

• assembly lines
  plural

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.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• assembly lines
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of assembly line

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

assembly line

Parton could have limited her tracks to farmers, coal miners, swing shifters, assembly line workers and other laborers whom country music constantly lionizes, and no one would have complained.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

The company recently showed off a Mac Mini assembly line in Houston that will start producing machines later this year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

An assembly line of around 30 middle-aged men and women is screwing, drilling and polishing CRP Technology's signature product: a robotic arm which performs various industrial tasks.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

China’s evolution from the world’s consumer assembly line to an advanced-manufacturing powerhouse was years in the making.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

That was the year Henry Ford put his cars on rollers and made his workers adopt the speed of the assembly line.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

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Related Words

• production line

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