manufactures

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of manufacture.

   The firm manufactures its components domestically rather than importing them.

   A small workshop near the harbor manufactures replacement parts for vintage cars.

   Note

   The -s form a singular subject takes in the present tense: the firm manufactures, a workshop manufactures. With plural subjects, and with I and you, the bare form manufacture returns. The verb usually takes an object, as in manufactures parts. It also has a derogatory use, to fabricate false evidence, so a sentence like "he manufactures excuses" reads as an accusation rather than a description of industry.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of manufacture.

   British manufactures dominated global trade in the nineteenth century.

   The exhibition showcased local manufactures from small family workshops.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable side of manufacture, the meaning "anything made; product." British manufactures or local manufactures are goods, not activity. The process meaning, the systematic making of goods, behaves as a mass noun and rarely pluralizes. Watchmaking adds its own countable use, a firm that makes its own parts rather than assembling bought ones. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb.

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