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

Apple’s stock fell nearly 4% in after-hours trading following the earnings call, reflecting investor concerns about the uncertain outlook posed by tariffs and supply chain instability. —John Liu, CNN Money, 2 May 2025

How would a supply chain disruption to a key supplier affect you? —Ryan Weissmueller, Forbes.com, 1 May 2025

Shoring up trade and supply chains among free-market economies could prove equally tricky, given the swerve by the largest of them all, America, towards tariffs instead. —Ned Temko, Christian Science Monitor, 1 May 2025

Hospitals are integrating robotic automation in pharmacy management and supply chain logistics, improving medication dispensing accuracy and ensuring consistent inventory flow. —Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 May 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