supply chain

noun

plural supply chains

: the chain of processes, businesses, etc. by which a commodity is produced and distributed : the companies, materials, and systems involved in manufacturing and delivering goods

The pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain—that's the usually invisible pathway of manufacturing, transportation and logistics that gets goods from where they are manufactured, mined or grown to where they are going. At the end of the chain is another company or a consumer who has paid for the finished product.

—Peter S. Goodman

Everyday life in the United States is acutely dependent on the perpetual motion of the supply chain, in which food and medicine and furniture and clothing all compete for many of the same logistical resources. … [W]hen a finite supply of packaging can't keep up with demand, when there aren't enough longshoremen or truck drivers or postal workers, when a container ship gets wedged sideways in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes—the effects ripple outward for weeks or months, emptying shelves and raising prices in ways that can seem random. All of a sudden, you can't buy kettlebells or canned seltzer.

—Amanda Mull

Examples of supply chain in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The reason that these granolas have a higher protein content than others is because of the oat upcycling process which Seven Sundays is revamping the supply chain of. —Andrew Watman, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025

Talabat’s Tomaso Rodriguez (middle) and DHL’s Javier Bilbao (right) discuss using emerging technologies in the supply chain with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin at CONVERGE LIVE in Singapore on March 13, 2025. —Ernestine Siu, CNBC, 14 Mar. 2025

That’s exactly what happened when the COVID-19 pandemic exposed major weaknesses in the global semiconductor supply chain. —Michael Moats, The Conversation, 14 Mar. 2025

Tariffs haven’t yet hit the supply chain at Anawalt in Malibu, but the hardware store and lumber seller is bracing for steep price hikes in the coming weeks. —Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1948, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for supply chain

• aeroplane
• appertain
• ascertain
• capitaine
• cassegrain
• cellophane
• chatelaine
• counterpane
• entertain
• gethsemane
• halothane
• hurricane