Meaning & use
production line
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Meanings
nouncountable
a series of machines and workers in a factory that make a product step by step
Grammar: Countable; often used with 'on' or 'off': working on the production line.
Patterns
- on the production line
- work on a production line
- a production line worker
The car factory has three production lines running at full speed.
She got a job on the production line at a phone factory.
A fault in one machine can stop the whole production line.
nounsingularfigurative
the process of making something in large quantities in a fixed order
Grammar: Used figuratively with 'the'; describes a system, not a physical line.
Patterns
- the production line of something
- come off the production line
These new graduates are coming off the university production line.
The film studio treats actors like items on a production line.
Their novels seem to come off a production line: one every year.
Word forms
| plural | production lines |
|---|
Common combinations
- on the production line
- He has worked on the production line for ten years.
- production line worker
- Production line workers received a pay rise.
- stop the production line
- A power cut stopped the production line for two hours.
- come off the production line
- The first electric cars came off the production line last month.
- assembly line
- The assembly line moves the parts past each worker.
Synonyms and how they differ
- assembly line
- Very close in meaning, but often emphasizes the workers putting parts together.
- line
- Short and informal in factory contexts; 'production line' is clearer in writing.
Word family
- produce verb
- To make or grow something.
- product noun
- Something that is made or sold.
- production noun
- The process of making something in large amounts.
Commonly confused: production line or procession line?
production line vs procession line
A procession line is a row of people in a ceremony; a production line is in a factory.
Practice
The company hired fifty new workers to keep the ______ running day and night.
Choose one answer.
'Production line' is the fixed phrase for a factory system. 'Procession line' is a ceremonial row, 'line of production' is not idiomatic, and 'product line' means a range of goods a company sells.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “production line”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.