industrialization

noun

in·​dus·​tri·​al·​i·​za·​tion in-ˌdə-strē-ə-lə-ˈzā-shən 

: 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

As urban boosters and capitalists increasingly invested in industrialization, cities expanded and concentrated flammable commodities together in previously unprecedented ways. —Justin Hawkins / Made By History, TIME, 31 Jan. 2025

President McKinley championed tariffs to protect U.S. manufacturing, boost domestic production, and drive U.S. industrialization and global reach to new heights. —Ted Johnson, Deadline, 23 Jan. 2025

The breed began to disappear after industrialization, as family farms fell by the wayside. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Jan. 2025

The answer lies in the processes of industrialization that took hold over the course of the century. —Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above