foundry

American  

[foun-dree] / ˈfaʊn dri /

noun

• foundries
  plural

1. an establishment for producing castings in molten metal.

2. the act or process of founding or casting metal.

3. the category of metal objects made by founding; castings.

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foundry British  

/ ˈfaʊndrɪ /

noun

1. a place in which metal castings are produced

2. the science or practice of casting metal

3. cast-metal articles collectively

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• foundries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of foundry

From the French word fonderie, dating back to 1595–1605. See found ³, -ery

Explanation

A factory that makes things out of hot metal poured into molds is called a foundry. Many of the ordinary objects in your life have parts that were produced in a foundry. The small metal parts that are needed in everything from trucks and cars to refrigerators, lawnmowers, and airplanes, are known as castings. These castings, used in a wide variety of everyday machines, systems, and appliances, are made in a foundry, where hot molten metal is poured into a mold and allowed to harden. Some foundries are distinguished specifically for what they produce, like a type foundry, which makes typefaces for printing presses.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foundry foundries

There was a tour of the foundry and museum, and a murder-mystery scavenger hunt.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Analysts say the prospects for personal-computer CPUs look more mixed, and they’re awaiting more information about the company’s foundry business.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

Germany's foundry association BDG says costs associated with modernising the power grid are passed on to companies through higher network fees, which have quadrupled since 2011.

From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026

A lapsed Quaker and former foundry owner from Rhode Island with little previous military experience, Greene had become Washington’s most trusted lieutenant.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

At the foundry in Chutreaux four large bells were cast in bronze.

From "Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction" by David Macaulay

Memory-chip makers are rushing to add new manufacturing lines, but semiconductor factories, also known as foundries or fabs, cost billions of dollars and generally take two to three years to build.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

"Because SiC is already used globally in electric vehicles and power grids, we can leverage existing industrial foundries to manufacture these cryogenic chips on 300-mm wafers."

From Science Daily ● Jun. 12, 2026

At the same time, leading-edge chip making will continue to face supply constraints due to capital requirements and the time needed to develop foundries, they said.

From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026

The U.S. push to boost manufacturing, partly by building new foundries, is vital as other countries race to be the first to broadly commercialize the technology.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

Such foundries were not unknown to the Inka, but Andean societies vastly preferred to hammer metal into thin sheets, form the sheets around molds, and solder the results.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann