DictionaryAI

industry

noun
IN-duh-stree/ˈɪndəstɹi/

Pluralindustries

4 meanings of industry

Practice

  1. 1
    business sectornouncountable
    The businesses of the same type, considered together as a single whole; trade in a given line of work.

    The automotive industry has shifted rapidly toward electric vehicles.

    Several industries rely heavily on imported raw materials.

    UsageUsually with a word before it naming the trade: the film industry, the tourism industry.

    Similarsector, business, trade

    Note

    Any line of business qualifies, services included, which sets it apart from the goods-producing sense. Once the trade is clear from context, writers drop the modifier, so "the industry" alone can stand for the music business.

  2. 2
    noununcountable
    The production of goods on a large scale, especially in factories using machines, and the businesses that do it; also business and commerce in general.

    Industry now accounts for a smaller share of national employment than it once did.

    Much of the country's industry is concentrated in the northern provinces.

    UsageWith no article for the whole sector: jobs in industry, industry and commerce; an industry means one trade.

    Note

    Economists use the bare, uncountable noun for the goods-making side of an economy, set against services, and above all for large-scale production with machines.

  3. 3
    hard worknoununcountable
    The tendency to work hard and steadily over a long period.

    The student's quiet industry earned her top marks.

    Years of patient industry turned the small shop into a thriving business.

    UsageOften paired with patience or discipline: patience and industry; also great or quiet industry.

    Similardiligence, industriousness

    Oppositelaziness, idleness, sloth, indolence

    Note

    This is the sense closest to the Latin: industria meant "diligence, activity", from industrius, "zealous", whose deeper origin is unknown. It still praises people, from a nation rebuilding a ruined town to a side whose win was "built on industry and discipline." Ogden Nash's ant became illustrious "through constant industry industrious," setting the noun beside its own adjective for the rhyme.

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    noun
    A category of prehistoric stone tools grouped by their shared manufacturing style and associated with a particular technocomplex.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English "industrie," borrowed via Old French from Latin "industria" (diligence, activity), from "industrius" (diligent, zealous). Its ultimate origin is unknown, though it is perhaps built from "indu" (in) plus a stem of "ūrō" (to burn, consume), suggesting the sense of being consumed with zeal.

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 9 facts