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.
“When you disconnect the stream from its floodplain and put it into a man-made channel, you lose all that habitat complexity, and you start to lose some of those species.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
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
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
"This is kind of pushing the frontier of science," said Ryan Schultz, a seismologist specialised in man-made earthquakes.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
Yet genetic deterioration through man-made agents is the menace of our time, “the last and greatest danger to our civilization.”
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
