Meaning & use
light industry
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
Manufacturing that makes small, lightweight goods using little raw material and modest machinery, such as clothing, electronics or toys.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: light industry is growing. The plural is rare and appears when listing types of business.
Patterns
- work in light industry
- light industry such as something
The city's economy has shifted from steel mills to light industry such as electronics assembly.
Light industry needs smaller factories and fewer workers than shipbuilding.
The new business park is zoned for light industry and offices.
Word forms
| plural | light industries |
|---|
Common combinations
- light industry and services
- The region relies on light industry and services.
- develop light industry
- The government aims to develop light industry in rural areas.
- light industry zone
- The light industry zone sits beside the highway.
- employ workers in light industry
- Textile mills employ many women in light industry.
- light industry unit
- They rented a small light industry unit for the workshop.
Synonyms and how they differ
- small-scale manufacturing
- Small-scale manufacturing stresses the size of the operation, while light industry stresses the lightness of the product.
- assembly work
- Assembly work is just putting parts together, which is only one activity within light industry.
- consumer goods manufacturing
- Consumer goods manufacturing describes products made for the public, which overlaps with but is not identical to light industry.
Opposites
Word family
- industry noun
- the making of goods in factories
- industrial adjective
- relating to industry
- industrialize verb
- to develop industry in a place
- industrialist noun
- a person who owns an industrial business
Commonly confused: light industry or heavy industry?
light industry vs heavy industry
Heavy industry means large-scale production such as steel, shipbuilding and chemicals, which is the opposite of light industry.
Practice
Which business belongs to light industry?
Choose one answer.
Light industry makes small, lightweight goods like radios. Steel, ships and coal belong to heavy industry.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “light industry”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.