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:
Sharma was promoted to CEO of Xbox—a sprawling business that includes its namesake console and big titles like “Call of Duty”— this past February following the exit of gaming industry legend Phil Spencer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Mandeep Singh, a senior industry analyst for technology at Bloomberg Intelligence, said worries about destructive AI predated large language models like Anthropic’s Claude.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
The European Union needs to "listen to industry" more, according to Alain D'haese of the European Aerosol Federation.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
Artificial intelligence anxiety reached new highs this week as industry leaders highlighted growing concerns that humans could lose control of the increasingly potent technology.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Daniel and Moses thought they were paying a courtesy call on a cottage industry, but the cottage was a castle.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
The firm has compiled a list of industries that are light on physical assets and it terms as having “shallow moats,” or, in other words, are at risk of being replaced by AI.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
The changes eliminated capital-gains taxes on qualified investments—meaning newly issued shares in C corporations with assets of less than $50 million in certain industries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Mistral is partnering with American data and software company Cloudera in an effort to grow its enterprise customer base by building exposure to highly regulated industries that are increasingly turning to advanced artificial-intelligence models.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
The self-described "anarcho-capitalist" invokes the "creative destruction" theory of US-Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter to describe how old industries inevitably fold in the face of innovation.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
“Because women were seen as being valuable to war efforts, and they kept things going with the industries back home.”
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
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.
