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

Dangote wants to provide a blueprint for industrialization across Africa. —John Hyatt, Forbes, 17 Feb. 2025

Jevons was living during a time in which coal was fueling rapid industrialization. —Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 4 Feb. 2025

As CalMatters reported, Morro Bay is also the epicenter of growing opposition among coastal residents, who see it as a form of industrialization that would change the look and character of their communities. —Dan Walters, The Mercury News, 1 Feb. 2025

Prior to the commercialization and industrialization of food production over the 20th Century, people used all sorts of microbes for fermentation. —Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 25 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for industrialization

• americanization
• anticoagulation
• antidiscrimination
• bioaccumulation
• bioremediation
• compartmentalization
• contextualization
• copolymerization
• decriminalization
• dehumidification
• demilitarization
• demineralization