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

The piece alluded to the link between African diasporic identity; the nearby ocean, which enslaved Africans once crossed centuries ago; and Portugal’s industrialization and colonial history. —Gameli Hamelo, ARTnews.com, 27 Nov. 2024

Not the European aristocracy, which surrendered much of its wealth to industrialization and estate taxes. —Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2024

The disruptions included urbanization and advanced industrialization which created new jobs that Americans weren’t prepared to do. —Bruno V. Manno, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

The combination of cultural individualism, industrialization, and technological advance created a cultural moment in which audiences were open to and actively explored the idea of unseen forces (hey, if telegraph and photography worked, why not mesmerism, spiritualism, or palm-reading?). —The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above