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

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means of production

He wants the state to control more of the means of production.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 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

MG: The United Fruit Company is the classic example of a system that controls all means of production so you can maximize efficiency and profit and get a product around the world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 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

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