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 two countries signed the Pax Silica Declaration earlier this month, solidifying a commitment to strengthen the supply chains for critical minerals and enhance collaboration surrounding advancements in areas like artificial intelligence. —Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 26 Feb. 2026

China dominates critical minerals supply chains – including for rare earths, controlling more than 90% of processing, separation capacity, and magnet manufacturing. —Pippa Stevens, CNBC, 26 Feb. 2026

China has been seeking to present itself as a reliable economic partner, as Europe struggles with a new, less certain relationship with Washington and the vulnerabilities in its supply chains exposed last year. —Reuters, NBC news, 26 Feb. 2026

Further tightening the bottleneck, the majority of the world’s lithium—60 to 70 percent—is now refined in China, and export restrictions and geopolitical tensions have disrupted supply chains in recent years. —IEEE Spectrum, 26 Feb. 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