industrialize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to introduce industry into (an area) on a large scale.
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to convert to the ideals, methods, aims, etc., of industrialism.
verb (used without object)
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to undergo industrialization.
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to follow or espouse industrialism.
verb
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(tr) to develop industry on an extensive scale in (a country, region, etc)
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(intr) (of a country, region, etc) to undergo the development of industry on an extensive scale
Other Word Forms
- industrialization noun
- nonindustrialized adjective
- overindustrialize verb
- semi-industrialized adjective
- unindustrialized adjective
Etymology
Origin of industrialize
First recorded in 1880–85; industrial + -ize
Explanation
To introduce factories or other kinds of manufacturing to a society is to industrialize it. When a country industrializes, it typically becomes richer but also more polluted. Industrialized regions are those places where industry plays a major role in the life and economy of the people living there, and to industrialize is to develop this kind of economy. Usually, this means adding automated ways of making things, such as factories and mills. Building a new manufacturing plant in a rural town could be said to industrialize it, for example.
Vocabulary lists containing industrialize
East Asia - Middle School
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East Asia - High School
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Content Summary 5.3: The First Industrial Revolution
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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.
In effect, China is trying to industrialize hobby spending.
From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026
“I’m not going to industrialize my world around a bunch of vibe code,” Walmsley said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 7, 2026
In South Korea, the country’s sprawling family-run conglomerates turbocharged the "Miracle on the Han River" by marshaling capital, technology and labor to industrialize the country at breakneck speed.
From Salon • Dec. 31, 2024
However, our modern world has greatly shifted from the Western postwar need to industrialize art with financially productive skills.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 15, 2023
In addition to the collectivization of farms, the Five-Year Plans also aimed to industrialize the USSR.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
