supply chain

noun

plural supply chains

: the chain of processes, businesses, etc. by which a commodity is produced and distributed : the companies, materials, and systems involved in manufacturing and delivering goods

The pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain—that's the usually invisible pathway of manufacturing, transportation and logistics that gets goods from where they are manufactured, mined or grown to where they are going. At the end of the chain is another company or a consumer who has paid for the finished product.

—Peter S. Goodman

Everyday life in the United States is acutely dependent on the perpetual motion of the supply chain, in which food and medicine and furniture and clothing all compete for many of the same logistical resources. … [W]hen a finite supply of packaging can't keep up with demand, when there aren't enough longshoremen or truck drivers or postal workers, when a container ship gets wedged sideways in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes—the effects ripple outward for weeks or months, emptying shelves and raising prices in ways that can seem random. All of a sudden, you can't buy kettlebells or canned seltzer.

—Amanda Mull

Examples of supply chain in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The semiconductor supply chain will be dramatically transformed. —Rob Toews, Forbes.com, 22 June 2026

Expanding conventional nuclear capacity requires long permitting cycles, complex financing and fuel supply chains that are often unreliably global. —Brigitte Bren, Chicago Tribune, 21 June 2026

While Fundstrat Global Advisors’ Tom Lee believes a number of catalysts could impact the market down the line – such as the implementation of task forces at the Federal Reserve and supply chain impacts from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – the environment remains positive. —Sean Conlon, CNBC, 21 June 2026

That would have knock-on effects for metals and manufacturing stocks amid disruption in supply chains, input costs and operating conditions these sectors rely on. —Bloomberg, Fortune, 21 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1948, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for supply chain

• aeroplane
• appertain
• ascertain
• capitaine
• cassegrain
• cellophane
• chatelaine
• counterpane
• entertain
• halothane
• hurricane
• hyperplane