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 fragmented geography allows armed groups to dominate territory, tax miners and control supply chains long before the gold reaches official channels. —Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 9 Apr. 2026

The collaboration centers on a powerful value proposition, which is to transform the traditional, often opaque supply chain into a streamlined, high-visibility engine. —Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 9 Apr. 2026

They're deeply embedded in the global supply chains and have been migrating upstream in terms of their importance to product design. —Josh Brown,sean Russo, CNBC, 9 Apr. 2026

The supply chain disruptions have sent energy costs soaring. —Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 9 Apr. 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