Meaning & use
manufacturing
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Meanings
noununcountablebusiness
The business of making goods in large quantities, usually in factories with machines.
Grammar: Uncountable: manufacturing is growing, not a manufacturing.
Patterns
- work in manufacturing
- a decline in manufacturing
Manufacturing employs thousands of people in the region.
The town's economy once depended on car manufacturing.
The company is moving its manufacturing overseas to cut costs.
noununcountable
The process of making a particular product, including the steps and methods used.
Grammar: Often before another noun: manufacturing costs.
Patterns
- the manufacturing of something
The manufacturing of steel requires enormous heat.
A fault in manufacturing caused the recall of the toys.
Quality control begins at the start of manufacturing.
adjectivebefore a noun
Relating to the making of goods in factories.
Grammar: Used before a noun: a manufacturing plant.
The manufacturing sector grew by two percent last year.
She works at a manufacturing plant outside the city.
Common combinations
- manufacturing industry
- The manufacturing industry is adopting more robots.
- manufacturing plant
- The manufacturing plant runs three shifts a day.
- manufacturing costs
- Rising manufacturing costs forced the firm to raise prices.
- manufacturing jobs
- Many manufacturing jobs have moved abroad.
- manufacturing process
- The manufacturing process takes about two weeks.
- advanced manufacturing
- The state invests in advanced manufacturing and robotics.
Synonyms and how they differ
- production
- Production is broader and covers growing, creating or staging things as well, while manufacturing means making physical goods.
- fabrication
- Fabrication often refers to building or assembling parts, especially metal ones, and can also mean an invented lie.
- industry
- Industry includes services and trade, whereas manufacturing is limited to making goods.
- assembly
- Assembly refers only to putting parts together, which is one stage of manufacturing.
Opposites
Word family
- manufacture verb
- to make goods in large quantities
- manufacturer noun
- a company that makes goods
- manufactured adjective
- made in a factory, or artificially created
- remanufacture verb
- to rebuild or restore a product to like-new condition
Commonly confused: manufacturing or manufacture?
manufacturing vs manufacture
Manufacture is the verb or the act in general (to manufacture cars), while manufacturing is the industry or process and acts as a noun or adjective.
Practice
The region lost thousands of jobs when ____ moved to countries with cheaper labor.
Choose one answer.
Manufacturing is the industry that makes goods in factories and is most associated with moving to cheaper locations. Tourism and retailing do not involve factory production.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “manufacturing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.