factory
Americannoun
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factories
plural
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a building or group of buildings with facilities for the manufacture of goods.
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any place producing a uniform product, without concern for individuality.
They call it a law school, but it's just a degree factory.
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(formerly) an establishment for factors and merchants carrying on business in a foreign country.
noun
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a building or group of buildings containing a plant assembly for the manufacture of goods
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( as modifier )
a factory worker
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rare a trading station maintained by factors in a foreign country
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(formerly) a main trading station for the exchange and transshipment of furs
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of factory
From the Medieval Latin word factōria, dating back to 1550–60. See factor, -y 3
Explanation
A factory is a big building in which products are made, like Willie Wonka's fictional Chocolate Factory, which was famous for producing (among other sweets and treats) the one-of-a-kind Everlasting Gobstopper. Early relatives of the word factory were in use as far back as the 1500s, long before the Industrial Revolution made the modern idea of a factory a reality. Of course, a big building with many different types of machinery inside it isn't the only definition of a factory. A successful pop group that scores several number one songs in a row could be called "a hit factory."
Vocabulary lists containing factory
Make Do: Fac
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The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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Russia - 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:
Morgan analyst Rajat Gupta said in an Aug. 18 client note after touring Tesla’s factory in Fremont, Calif.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Most students here are children of migrant factory labourers, he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
As colleges reopened, Xu studied metallurgy and was later assigned to a state-run steel factory.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Castelion is now searching for a new factory site to build its next missile models.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Nancy could see a stage set up in front of the factory.
From "Scream for Ice Cream: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #2" by Carolyn Keene
In 2025 an investigation by the BBC found that workers manufacturing clothes for the company at a number of factories in Guangzhou were putting in 75-hour weeks — against China’s employment laws.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
It filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after a series of listeria outbreaks in its factories last year led Walmart—its largest customer—to end the relationship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Initially, the market will be for robots being used in places like factories and hospitals, he added.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
"You can see the improvements every year," said Soumodip Sarkar, the executive president of a science park in Portugal who was visiting the expo on a tour of factories in China.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Uncle Clyde came to work at one of the Ford car factories, on the assembly line where they made parts for the machines the army used in the war.
From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson
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.
