industry
Americannoun
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industries
plural
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the aggregate of manufacturing or technically productive enterprises in a particular field, often named after its principal product.
the automobile industry;
the steel industry.
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any general business activity; commercial enterprise.
the Italian tourist industry.
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trade or manufacture in general.
the rise of industry in Africa.
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the ownership and management of companies, factories, etc..
friction between labor and industry.
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systematic work or labor.
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energetic, devoted activity at any work or task; diligence.
Her teacher praised her industry.
- Synonyms:
- industriousness, assiduity, effort, application
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the aggregate of work, scholarship, and ancillary activity in a particular field, often named after its principal subject.
the Mozart industry.
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Archaeology. an assemblage of artifacts regarded as unmistakably the work of a single prehistoric group.
noun
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organized economic activity concerned with manufacture, extraction and processing of raw materials, or construction
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a branch of commercial enterprise concerned with the output of a specified product or service
the steel industry
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industrial ownership and management interests collectively, as contrasted with labour interests
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manufacturing enterprise collectively, as opposed to agriculture
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diligence; assiduity
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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mini-industrynoun
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preindustrynoun
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subindustrynoun
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superindustrynoun
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interindustryadjective
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nonindustryadjective
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proindustryadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of industry
First recorded in 1475–85; earlier industrie, from Latin industria, noun use of feminine of industrius “diligent, assiduous”; see industrious
Explanation
An industry is a group of manufacturers or businesses that produce a particular kind of goods or services. Workers in the textile industry design, fabricate, and sell cloth. The tourist industry includes all the commercial aspects of tourism. You can use industry to refer to a group of similar businesses: The automobile industry makes cars and car parts. The food service industry prepares food and delivers it to hotels, schools, and other big facilities. Industry comes from the Latin industria, which means "diligence, hard work," and the word is still used with that meaning. If you build a house in three weeks, when the same job takes everyone else three months, you're showing impressive industry.
Vocabulary lists containing industry
Can I Work It? Words for "Job"
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The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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Africa - 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:
Responding to shifting external forces is “almost normalized in some ways,” he said of the auto industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
In a city that had manifested an entire industry out of rewriting stories, I wondered whether the secret was simply to write a new one for myself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Anthropic and rival OpenAI released their most powerful models this year, known as Claude Mythos and Sol respectively, boosting concerns across the industry about safety and security.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
The enforcement and focus on safety regulations was “long overdue” in the industry, said Seidl.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
Therefore the shops hummed with industry day after day, and the craftsmen were many.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
The Linda Myles Debate will recognise her long-standing belief that Edinburgh is the place for rigorous debate around the screen industries.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
That boost has helped shield Korea from external shocks but is also carving out a “K-shaped” pattern of growth, in which technology industries are booming while nontech sectors are stalling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
The growth in New York highlights how tech workers are spilling into other industries and cities as Silicon Valley companies lay off workers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
The advance could eventually make the alloy, which is widely used in aerospace applications and may have uses in other industries, printable on more common commercial equipment.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
But those average figures conceal big differences among the industries of each country, related to differences in organization—and those differences are very instructive.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
