production
Pluralproductions (some meanings)
- 1The act or process of making or producing something, from goods and crops to speech or writing, or the state of being made, as in 'in production'.
The production of steel requires enormous amounts of energy.
Music production has moved largely into small home studios.
UsageUsually the production of something, or the thing made first: steel production, food production. Something being made now is in production.
Similarmanufacturing
Oppositeconsumption
- 2The total quantity of goods or output that is produced.
Wheat production across the region doubled after the new irrigation system.
The mine's annual production reached record levels.
UsageUsually the thing made comes first: wheat production, oil production. You increase, cut or measure production as a total.
Note
Thomas Browne's The Garden of Cyrus (1658) uses the plural for the things produced themselves, marveling at tiny seeds "extending to large productions" and at "vast production from nothing."
- 3A movie, a television or radio program, or a recording, considered as the output of the company or team responsible for it.
The documentary was a joint production between a Canadian broadcaster and a German film studio.
The studio's latest productions have struggled to find an audience on streaming services.
UsageCommon in credits and film news: a joint production, a co-production. For the story or the acting, people usually just say film or show.
Note
A movie still being shot is in production; once filming ends, it is in post-production, where the bulk of the editing is done.
- 4The staging and performance of a theatrical work before an audience.
The director's bold production of Macbeth drew sold-out crowds.
The theater's new production of the musical runs for six weeks, with eight performances a week.
UsageUsually a production of a play or musical; a theater or school puts on or stages a production.
Similarstaging, performance, show
- 5Items manufactured or ready to be manufactured in large volume, rather than a prototype or conceptual model.
The production model weighs less than the prototype shown at last year's motor show.
Engineers changed several parts of the design before building the first production cars.
UsageMostly before another noun: a production model, production cars, the production version, as opposed to the prototype.
Note
The contrast is often with what came before, the prototype or concept that proved the idea. Calling a car the production version means it is the one that will be sold to the public, not a show car or test model.
- 6The live environment where finished code runs, rather than a testing or development setup.
The bug only appeared once the code reached production.
Never test risky changes directly in production.
UsageSpoken of like a place, with no article: code goes to production, runs in production, breaks in production.
Oppositedevelopment
Less common meanings
- 7An occasion or activity made more complicated or dramatic than it needs to be.
Packing for the weekend became an elaborate production.
He made a production of returning the gift, sighing the entire time.
UsageUsually make a production of something or make a big production out of it; mildly critical of whoever is making the fuss.
Note
Close kin to the theatrical staging: an ordinary task treated as if it were being staged for an audience.
- 8Showing or supplying something for others to see, use, or consider.
The contract was signed only after production of the original deed.
Admission to the lab depends on production of a security badge.
UsageUsually production of the thing shown: entry on production of a ticket, signed after production of the deed.
Similarpresentation, submission, showing
Note
In Saki's "The Lost Sanjak," collected in 1910, a narrator's production of a few shillings buys him supper and a night's lodging. It also lies behind the Scots legal term for documents lodged in court.
- 9In Scots law, a document or other item of evidence lodged in court to support a legal action, a defense, or a prosecution.
- 10In zoology and anatomy, a part that extends or projects out from a larger structure of the body.
- 11The act of lengthening something out or prolonging it.
- 12A rewrite rule that specifies a symbol substitution, applied repeatedly to generate new symbol sequences.
Practice
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Origin
Latin prōductiō ("a lengthening, prolonging") passed into Old French as production and into Middle English as produccioun. In English terms it is "produce" plus the suffix "-tion."