industry

[ in-duh-stree ]
See synonyms for: industryindustries on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural in·dus·tries for 1, 2, 7.
  1. the aggregate of manufacturing or technically productive enterprises in a particular field, often named after its principal product: the automobile industry;the steel industry.

  2. any general business activity; commercial enterprise: the Italian tourist industry.

  1. trade or manufacture in general: the rise of industry in Africa.

  2. the ownership and management of companies, factories, etc.: friction between labor and industry.

  3. systematic work or labor.

  4. energetic, devoted activity at any work or task; diligence: Her teacher praised her industry.

  5. the aggregate of work, scholarship, and ancillary activity in a particular field, often named after its principal subject: the Mozart industry.

  6. Archaeology. an assemblage of artifacts regarded as unmistakably the work of a single prehistoric group.

Origin of industry

1
First recorded in 1475–85; earlier industrie, from Latin industria, noun use of feminine of industrius “diligent, assiduous”; see industrious

Other words for industry

Other words from industry

  • in·ter·in·dus·try, adjective
  • min·i-in·dus·try, noun, plural min·i-in·dus·tries.
  • non·in·dus·try, adjective
  • pre·in·dus·try, noun, adjective
  • pro·in·dus·try, adjective
  • sub·in·dus·try, noun, plural sub·in·dus·tries.
  • su·per·in·dus·try, noun, plural su·per·in·dus·tries.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use industry in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for industry

industry

/ (ˈɪndəstrɪ) /


nounplural -tries
  1. organized economic activity concerned with manufacture, extraction and processing of raw materials, or construction

  2. a branch of commercial enterprise concerned with the output of a specified product or service: the steel industry

    • industrial ownership and management interests collectively, as contrasted with labour interests

    • manufacturing enterprise collectively, as opposed to agriculture

  1. diligence; assiduity

Origin of industry

1
C15: from Latin industria diligence, from industrius active, of uncertain origin

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