industrialist

American

[in-duhs-tree-uh-list] / ɪnˈdʌs tri ə lɪst /

noun

a person who owns or is involved in the management of an industrial enterprise.

adjective

of, relating to, or characterized by industrialism.

industrialist British

/ ɪnˈdʌstrɪəlɪst /

noun

a person who has a substantial interest in the ownership or control of industrial enterprise

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of industrialist

First recorded in 1860–65; industrial + -ist

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.

US prosecutors are set to drop charges against billionaire Indian industrialist Gautam Adani, who was accused of paying hundreds of millions of dollars of bribes and hiding the payments, The New York Times reported Thursday.

From Barron's • May 14, 2026

These items, all life-size, reflect the taste of a Gilded Age industrialist.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

Kinloch Castle was built between 1897 and 1900 as a hunting lodge for Lancastrian industrialist George Bullough, who had it luxuriously furnished.

From BBC • Aug. 27, 2025

Farben; and industrialist Günther Quandt, who was also, oddly enough, the former husband of Goebbels' wife Magda.

From Salon • Apr. 5, 2025

One of them, a white multimillionaire industrialist named Alf Chalmers, offered twelve hundred rands: I purchased a plane ticket.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023