industry

in·dus·try

Use industry in a sentence

noun

The definition of an industry is any large-scale business activity or a type of productive manufacture or trade.

An example of industry is the coal mining business.

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"industry." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 13 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Industry>.

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industry. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Industry

industry

noun

pl. -·tries

Obs.
1. skill or cleverness
2. the application of this
earnest, steady effort; constant diligence in or application to work
systematic work; habitual employment
1. any particular branch of productive, esp. manufacturing, enterprise: the paper industry
2. any large-scale business activity: the tourist industry
1. manufacturing productive enterprises collectively, esp. as distinguished from agriculture
2. the owners and managers of industry

Origin of industry

Late Middle English from Middle French industrie from Classical Latin industria from industrius, active, industrious from an unverified form indo-struus from Old Latin endo (from source Classical Latin in) + struere, to pile up, arrange: see strew

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MLA Style

"industry." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 13 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Industry>.

APA Style

industry. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Industry

industry

noun

pl. in·dus·tries

a. The sector of an economy made up of manufacturing enterprises: government regulation of industry.
b. A sector of an economy: the advertising industry. See Synonyms at business.
Energetic devotion to a task or an endeavor; diligence: demonstrated great intelligence and industry as a prosecutor.
Ongoing work or study associated with a specified subject or figure: the Civil War industry; the Hemingway industry.
Archaeology
a. A collection of artifacts or tools made from a specified material: a Mesolithic bone industry.
b. A standardized tradition of toolmaking associated with a specified tool or culture: a stone hand-axe industry; the Acheulian industry.
Obsolete Cleverness or skill.

Origin of industry

Middle English industrie skill from Old French from Latin industria diligence from feminine of industrius diligent ; see ster-² in Indo-European roots.

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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MLA Style

"industry." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 13 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Industry>.

APA Style

industry. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Industry

industry

chemurgy the branch of chemistry that deals with the industrial use and application of organic substances. —chemurgic, chemurgical, adj. chreotechnics Rare. useful arts, as agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing. radiotechnology the science and technology of applying radiation and x rays to industrial use. See also radio. robotics the application of automated machinery to tasks traditionally done by hand, as in the manufacturing industry. Zionite a believer in the doctrines of John Alexander Dowie who founded Zion City, Illinois, in 1901, as an industrial community for his followers.

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MLA Style

"industry." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 13 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Industry>.

APA Style

industry. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Industry

Noun

(countable and uncountable, plural industries)

(uncountable) The tendency to work persistently.
Over the years, their industry and business sense made them wealthy.
(countable, business, economics) Businesses of the same type, considered as a whole.
The software and tourism industries continue to grow, while the steel industry remains troubled.
The steel industry has long used blast furnaces to smelt iron.
(uncountable, economics) Businesses that produce goods as opposed to services.
(in the singular, economics) The sector of the economy consisting of large-scale enterprises.
There used to be a lot of industry around here, but now the economy depends on tourism.
(European software patents) Automated production of material goods.

Related terms

Origin

From Old French industrie, from Latin industria (“diligence, activity, industry”), from industrius (“diligent, active, zealous”), from Old Latin indostruus (“diligent, active”); origin unknown. Perhaps from indu (“in”) + ūst-, ūstr-, stem of ūrō (“burn, burn up, consume”, verb), related to Old High German ūstrī (“industry”), Old English andūstrian (“to hate, detest”, literally “to be consumed with zeal”).