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

And nearly every business, supply chain expert, and economist who examined the data concluded that the costs fell almost entirely on American firms and consumers, not on foreign exporters. —Jay Caruso, The Washington Examiner, 13 Mar. 2026

If Zimbabwe’s new processing push succeeds, the country could transform itself from a raw-materials exporter into a key node in the battery supply chain. —Ray Mwayera, semafor.com, 13 Mar. 2026

In other words, energy markets are volatile, supply chains are tightening and trade tensions are heating up (again). —Leonie Kidd, CNBC, 12 Mar. 2026

Grocery stores are one of the first places consumers will see the effects of higher fuel prices – specifically the produce, meat and dairy aisles, said Deborah Weinswig, CEO and founder of Coresight Research, a supply chain and retail research and advisory group. —Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 12 Mar. 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
• gethsemane
• halothane
• hurricane