in·dus·try
(ĭńdə-strē)
[Middle English industrie, skill, from Old French, from Latin industria, diligence, from feminine of industrius, diligent.]
noun: pl., -tries.
- Commercial production and sale of goods.
- A specific branch of manufacture and trade: the textile industry. See synonyms at business
- The sector of an economy made up of manufacturing enterprises: government regulation of industry.
- Industrial management.
- 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 collection of artifacts or tools made from a specified material: a Mesolithic bone industry.
- A standardized tradition of toolmaking associated with a specified tool or culture: a stone hand-ax industry; the Acheulian industry.
