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industrial revolution
industrial revolutionnounnone the industrial revolution or the Industrial Revolution the totality of the changes in economic and social organization that began about 1760 in England and later in other countries, characterized chiefly by the replacement of hand tools with power-driven machines, such as the power loom and the steam engine, and by the concentration of industry in large establishments.
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Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolutionnounthe transformation in the 18th and 19th centuries of first Britain and then other W European countries and the US into industrial nations
industrial revolution
Americannoun
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none the industrial revolution or the Industrial Revolution the totality of the changes in economic and social organization that began about 1760 in England and later in other countries, characterized chiefly by the replacement of hand tools with power-driven machines, such as the power loom and the steam engine, and by the concentration of industry in large establishments.
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any period of change to the economic and social organization of a country, region, etc., that is characterized by the replacement of hand tools with power-driven machines and the concentration of industry in large establishments.
noun
Etymology
Origin of industrial revolution
First recorded in 1840–50
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.
Robin Patel, the museum's development officer, says that while coal powered the industrial revolution, which is charted in the exhibitions, renewable energy creates a new phase to its story.
From BBC • May 12, 2026
But the scale of disruption today is predicted to be greater than anything that’s happened since the industrial revolution.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
If artificial intelligence represents the next industrial revolution, then “low-cost U.S. energy — enabled by shale technology — is a foundational input to winning the global AI race,” he noted.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 12, 2026
We also approach the 250th anniversary of James Watt’s first commercial steam engine going on-line in March 1776, starting an industrial revolution.
From Barron's • Jan. 13, 2026
We not only take it for granted—we tend to talk about the biologic revolution as though expecting to make profits from it, rather like a version of last century’s industrial revolution.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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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.