manufacture
Americannoun
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manufactures
plural
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the making of goods or wares by manual labor or by machinery, especially on a large scale.
the manufacture of television sets.
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the making or producing of anything; generation.
the manufacture of body cells.
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the thing or material manufactured; product.
Plastic is an important manufacture.
verb (used with object)
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manufactures,
present (3rd person singular)
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manufactured,
past participle, past
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manufacturing
present participle
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to make or produce by hand or machinery, especially on a large scale.
- Synonyms:
- build
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to work up (material) into form for use.
to manufacture cotton.
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to invent fictitiously; fabricate; concoct.
to manufacture an account of the incident.
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to produce in a mechanical way without inspiration or originality.
to manufacture a daily quota of poetry.
verb
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to process or make (a product) from a raw material, esp as a large-scale operation using machinery
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(tr) to invent or concoct
to manufacture an excuse
noun
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the production of goods, esp by industrial processes
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a manufactured product
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the creation or production of anything
Synonym Usage
Manufacture, assemble, fabricate apply to processes in industry. Manufacture, originally to make by hand, now means to make by machine or by industrial process: to manufacture rubber tires. To assemble is to fit together the manufactured parts of something mechanical: to assemble an automobile. To fabricate is to construct or build by fitting standardized parts together: to fabricate houses. See also make 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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manufacturingnoun
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nonmanufacturenoun
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nonmanufacturingnoun
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semimanufacturingnoun
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premanufactureverb (used with object)
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manufacturableadjective
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manufacturaladjective
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nonmanufacturedadjective
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semimanufacturedadjective
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unmanufacturableadjective
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unmanufacturedadjective
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well-manufacturedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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manufacturesimple
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manufacturessimple
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have manufacturedperfect
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has manufacturedperfect
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am manufacturingprogressive
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are manufacturingprogressive
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is manufacturingprogressive
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have been manufacturingperfect progressive
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has been manufacturingperfect progressive
Past
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manufacturedsimple
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had manufacturedperfect
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was manufacturingprogressive
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were manufacturingprogressive
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had been manufacturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of manufacture
First recorded in 1560–70; from Middle French manufacture “the action or process of making; a factory,” equivalent to Latin manū “by hand”, ablative singular of manus “hand” + Middle French facture “making, construction” (from Late Latin factūra “action of creating, a creation, piece of handiwork,” from Latin factūra “act of fashioning; metal working,” a derivative of facere “to make, do”); the verb is derivative of the noun
Explanation
To manufacture something, is to make or construct it, usually for industry and sale. Unless you make all your own clothes, a company probably had to manufacture them. Manufacture is generally associated with industry and factories. Henry Ford, for instance, revolutionized industry by using assembly lines to manufacture Model Ts. But manufacture can also be used for the natural word, like bees that manufacture honey. Occasionally it use used more generally to mean to construct by putting parts together. And in a pinch, you can manufacture — or make — the truth, which is a creative way to say “lie.”
Vocabulary lists containing manufacture
Make Do: Fac
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Automobiles
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The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They occur naturally in the milk of animals such as cows, sheep, and goats, but they can also be produced artificially during the manufacture of partially hydrogenated fats.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
"Their discoveries have been decisive for chemists who design reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals," the jury said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
They were third in the majors in walks and near the bottom in strikeouts, which allowed them to manufacture runs by stringing together long innings rather than relying on the long ball.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
The supplier, which told Panorama it did not manufacture the letters it used to make plates, received a warning letter, although a prosecution is still being considered.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
Henry Ford had figured out how to manufacture his automobiles on a moving assembly line, and soon others were following suit.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Airbus designs and manufactures wings for all its commercial aircraft at its Broughton site in North Wales.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Martin Blunt, a small company that manufactures strings for muscial instruments in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires, has had to shift to a four-day week in the face of falling demand.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
What got far less attention was the story about the owner of an Ohio factory that manufactures parts for cars and trucks, who told the New York Times about his Haitian workers.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2026
What differentiates Coherent, which manufactures lasers and transceivers, is that the company is vertically integrated, from the raw-materials layer to lasers and the modules that house them.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Both of those take place inside the Tyrell Building, an enormous double pyramid structure that houses the Tyrell Corporation, the company that manufactures the replicants.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
That finding ruled out the possibility that finished pottery had been manufactured in the Mississippian heartland and transported south through trade.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
They’ve been hiring more people to build data centers and to supply the materials and manufactured goods used in construction.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 3, 2026
Federal aircraft records show the helicopter was manufactured by German company Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
He added that the company's products "can be manufactured locally, with the potential to retain significant economic benefit in Scotland through engineering, vessel services and offshore supply chain".
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
For them, as we saw in Chapter 9, the argument from design depended on envisaging the universe as manufactured, rather than on showing nature itself to be purposive.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
DBS economists Taimur Baig and Nathan Chow expect Malaysia’s economy to have grown 5.0% in the third quarter, supported by export-oriented manufacturing as demand for AI-related electronics remains strong.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
In June, South Korea unveiled plans for at least $880bn in projects led by Samsung and SK Hynix to build out the country's chip manufacturing capabilities in the coming years.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
He cited expansion of the robotaxi fleet, production capacity for Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot, a semiconductor plant, solar manufacturing capacity and AI-computing infrastructure, alongside continued investment in the car business.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
"Everyone in this valley is conscious of the need for manufacturing jobs," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
All of these instruments relied, at least in part, on glass manufacturing skills and provided visual information.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
