: an early multiple-spindle machine for spinning wool or cotton
Examples of spinning jenny in a Sentence
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Barnett gives the example of the UK after the invention of spinning jenny and flying shuttle.
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Dylan Matthews, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
The technology behind the industrial revolution -- the steam engine, the spinning jenny and the cotton engine, for example -- accelerated economic growth by an order of magnitude, creating an explosion of innovation that still reverberates around the planet.
—Discover Magazine, 29 Sep. 2023
Creative destruction reallocates society’s resources from less productive pursuits to more productive ones—from spinning jennies to factories, for example, or from horse-and-buggies to motorcars.
—Alan Greenspan, WSJ, 12 Oct. 2018
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Dylan Matthews, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
The technology behind the industrial revolution -- the steam engine, the spinning jenny and the cotton engine, for example -- accelerated economic growth by an order of magnitude, creating an explosion of innovation that still reverberates around the planet.
—Discover Magazine, 29 Sep. 2023
Creative destruction reallocates society’s resources from less productive pursuits to more productive ones—from spinning jennies to factories, for example, or from horse-and-buggies to motorcars.
—Alan Greenspan, WSJ, 12 Oct. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Spinning jenny.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spinning%20jenny. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
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spinning jenny
noun
spinning jen·ny
ˈspin-iŋ-ˌjen-ē 
: an early machine for spinning wool or cotton by means of many spindles
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