INDUSTRY
industry, manufacture
(noun) the organized action of making of goods and services for sale; “American industry is making increased use of computers to control production”
diligence, industriousness, industry
(noun) persevering determination to perform a task; “his diligence won him quick promotions”; “frugality and industry are still regarded as virtues”
industry
(noun) the people or companies engaged in a particular kind of commercial enterprise; “each industry has its own trade publications”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
industry (countable and uncountable, plural industries)
(uncountable) The tendency to work persistently. Diligence.
(countable, business, economics) Businesses of the same type, considered as a whole. Trade.
(uncountable, economics) Businesses that produce goods as opposed to services.
(in the singular, economics) The sector of the economy consisting of large-scale enterprises.
(European software patent law) Automated production of material goods.
(archaeology) A typological classification of stone tools, associated with a technocomplex.
Synonyms
• (tendency to work persistently): diligence; application
• (businesses of the same type): sector; field
• (businesses that produce goods): manufacturing
Proper noun
Industry
A city in Los Angeles County, California, United States.
Source: Wiktionary
In"dus*try, n.; pl. Industries. Etym: [L. industria, cf. industrius
diligent; of uncertain origin: cf. F. industrie.]
1. Habitual diligence in any employment or pursuit, either bodily or
mental; steady attention to business; assiduity; -- opposed to sloth
and idleness; as, industry pays debts, while idleness or despair will
increase them.
We are more industrious than our forefathers, because in the present
times the funds destined for the maintenance of industry are much
greater in proportion to those which are likely to be employed in the
maintenance of idleness, than they were two or three centuries ago.
A. Smith.
2. Any department or branch of art, occupation, or business;
especially, one which employs much labor and capital and is a
distinct branch of trade; as, the sugar industry; the iron industry;
the cotton industry.
3. (Polit. Econ.)
Definition: Human exertion of any kind employed for the creation of value,
and regarded by some as a species of capital or wealth; labor.
Syn.
– Diligence; assiduity; perseverance; activity; laboriousness;
attention. See Diligence.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition