man-made
Americanadjective
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produced, formed, or made by humans.
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produced artificially; not resulting from natural processes.
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Textiles.
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(of a fiber) manufactured synthetically from a cellulosic or noncellulosic base; produced chemically.
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(of a fabric or garment) constructed of synthetically made fibers.
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adjective
Etymology
Origin of man-made
First recorded in 1710–20
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.
Since the 1990s, Graham had lived in a one-story white-brick ranch in a wooded subdivision on a peninsula of Lake Hartwell, one of several man-made lakes in the area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Those advisories are “blunt instruments” that don’t adequately capture emissions from burning man-made goods — or convey that the source of pollution may include burning batteries or toxic refrigerants, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Some man-made canals such as Panama and Suez do charge tolls and fees for specific services.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
Physical capacity across the world is constricted by a variety of chokepoints, some natural like Hormuz, some man-made like tariffs.
From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026
Even people who have less restrictive filters and a good feel for numbers will note an increasingly large number of coincidences, due in large measure to the number and complexity of man-made conventions.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
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.
