means of production

British

plural noun

(in Marxist theory) the raw materials and means of labour (tools, machines, etc) employed in the production process

"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

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.

For smaller players, owning their real estate and means of production can be a boon.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 10, 2026

A direct public offering “is a way of offering the means of production to the worker,” Karp told MarketWatch earlier this month.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 25, 2025

"So I think what this administration is saying is we want both. We want the means of production and we want the research and development intellectual property generation."

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2025

In the 1970s, power began to shift away from the manufacturing sector and toward financial institutions, constituting a new economic reality no longer organized around the means of production and distribution.

From Salon • Jan. 21, 2024

The land, then the main means of production, belonged to the whole tribe and there was no individual ownership whatsoever.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023