industrialization

noun

in·​dus·​tri·​al·​i·​za·​tion in-ˌdə-strē-ə-lə-ˈzā-shən How to pronounce industrialization (audio)
: the act or process of industrializing : the widespread development of industries in a region, country, culture, etc.
Industrialization and modern insect control have improved the quality of life around the globe, but they have also added some 100,000 chemical compounds that, some scientists worry, could affect the health of people and wildlife.Hannah Fairfield
Investors became convinced that growing global demand for energy, the industrialization of China and India and the lack of spare production capacity would keep crude prices surging ever upward.A. Gary Shilling
Television, like industrialization and democracy, was slow to arrive in Italy, coming in 1954, several years after it was introduced in the US.Alexander Stille

Examples of industrialization in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web This changed during the railway boom of the 1830s and the period of industrialization that followed. Chris Dixon, Fortune, 10 Mar. 2024 The weeks of back and forth on the proposal were the latest chapter in a yearslong grassroots effort to resist further industrialization across southeast Fort Worth. Jaime Moore-Carrillo, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 Feb. 2024 Something that Amanda and I talked about when traveling was, at the end, when this dream of industrialization died in the ’80s when neoliberalism started to rise in the region, craft resisted. Rachel Gallaher, Robb Report, 25 Feb. 2024 By the turn of the 20th century, however, more modern methods of tanning, increasing industrialization, and Union Mills’ rural location put the Shriver Tannery at a competitive disadvantage. Samuel M. Riley, Baltimore Sun, 13 Jan. 2024 After Italy’s industrialization in the 1950s and 1960s, the local economy shifted from subsistence agriculture and fishing to industry and tourism, leading to the abandonment of this centuries-old tradition. Vittoria Traverso, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Nov. 2023 In the East, Japan was the forerunner of Western industrialization, but many Japanese now want less of that and more out of life. E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2024 Residents hailed the change as a step toward minimizing the adverse effects of rapid industrialization on neighborhoods. Jaime Moore-Carrillo, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 31 Jan. 2024 Other avant-garde artists, recoiling from industrialization and a sense of civilizational corruption, had been thinking along similar lines for a while. Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'industrialization.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of industrialization was in 1892

Dictionary Entries Near industrialization

Cite this Entry

“Industrialization.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/industrialization. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on industrialization

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!