Meaning & use
industrialist
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A wealthy person who owns or runs large companies, especially manufacturing businesses.
Grammar: Countable: you can say an industrialist or several industrialists.
Patterns
- a wealthy industrialist
- a leading industrialist
- a nineteenth-century industrialist
Her grandfather was a wealthy industrialist who built several textile mills.
The city's museum was founded by a local industrialist in 1890.
A group of industrialists met the minister to discuss new taxes on factories.
nouncountable
Someone who has great power or influence in industry and speaks for business interests.
Grammar: Often used in the plural when talking about business leaders as a group.
Patterns
- industrialists and politicians
- a powerful industrialist
The newspaper interviewed leading industrialists about the shortage of skilled workers.
As an industrialist, she argued that the government should invest in railways.
Word forms
| plural | industrialists |
|---|
Common combinations
- a leading industrialist
- A leading industrialist donated the money for the new hospital.
- a wealthy industrialist
- He retired as a wealthy industrialist and moved to the coast.
- a powerful industrialist
- A powerful industrialist persuaded the council to approve the plan.
- industrialists and politicians
- The debate brought together industrialists and politicians from across the region.
Synonyms and how they differ
- businessman
- More general and more common today; it can mean anyone who works in business, not only a factory owner.
- entrepreneur
- Focuses on someone who starts new companies and takes risks, while an industrialist usually owns or controls established large firms.
- magnate
- Similar in meaning but often used for a particular industry, as in a shipping magnate.
- tycoon
- Informal and often used in newspapers for a very rich and powerful business person.
Word family
- industry noun
- The business of making things in factories, or a particular branch of business.
- industrial adjective
- Relating to factories, machines, and large-scale production.
- industrialize verb
- To develop factories and large-scale production in a country or area.
- industrialization noun
- The process of building up factories and industry in a place.
Commonly confused: industrialist or industrialism?
industrialist vs industrialism
Industrialism is the system or practice of large-scale industry, not a person; an industrialist is the person who owns or runs the businesses.
Practice
Which sentence uses "industrialist" correctly?
Choose one answer.
"Industrialist" is a countable noun for a person who owns or runs large companies, so option A fits. Option B needs the adjective "industrial" before "accident," option C needs the adjective "industrial" before "design," and option D needs the noun "industrialization" for the process.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “industrialist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.