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

This reflects India’s population size, its ongoing industrialization, and its efforts to lift millions out of poverty. —Robert Rapier, Forbes.com, 3 July 2025

Our world is filled with artifacts of industrialization — plastics, synthetic fragrances, fossil fuels, construction materials, and heavy duty chemicals. —Kate Raphael, Discover Magazine, 23 June 2025

Repeatedly returning to themes of globalization and alienation, the 55-year-old director has meticulously chronicled his country’s uneasy plunge into the 21st century as rampant industrialization risks deadening those left behind. —Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2025

The historical parallel with industrialization offers both caution and hope. —Wolfgang Messner, The Conversation, 2 June 2025

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