maquiladora

noun

ma·​qui·​la·​do·​ra mə-ˌkē-lə-ˈdȯr-ə 

-ˈt͟hȯr-

: a foreign-owned factory in Mexico at which imported parts are assembled by lower-paid workers into products for export

Examples of maquiladora in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

On the east Coast, the Port of Brownsville is just a few feet from the Mexican border and only about 8 miles from the busy industrial zones and maquiladoras of the Mexican border city of Matamoros. — Craig Hooper, Forbes.com, 8 June 2026

And to stir civic pride and bring back investment — especially in the maquiladora industry. — San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 May 2022

Normally, more than 400,000 people are employed directly and indirectly through maquiladoras. — Allie Morris, Dallas News, 19 Apr. 2020

And if Interstate 19 ran through a different part of the Mexican-Arizonan border, surely Mexico's maquiladora operations would be located there instead. — Foreign Affairs, 16 Aug. 2012

Word History

Etymology

Mexican Spanish (planta, empresa) maquiladora, from maquilar to process (material) for a fee, from maquila processing fee, multure, from Spanish, multure, from Arabic dialect makīla measure of grain

First Known Use

1970, in the meaning defined above