the act of subcontracting (work) to another company
The difficulties of outsourcing have been compounded by the increasing resistanceof trade unions.
2.
the act of buying in (components for a product) rather than manufacturing them
outsourcing in American English
(ˌautˈsɔrsɪŋ, -ˈsour-)
noun
Economics
the buying of parts of a product to be assembled elsewhere, as in purchasing cheap foreign parts rather than manufacturing them at home
Word origin
[out- + source + -ing1]-ing is a suffix of nouns formed from verbs, expressing the action of the verb or itsresult, product, material, etc. (the art of building; a new building; cotton wadding). It is also used to form nouns from words other than verbs (offing; shirting). Verbal nouns ending in -ing are often used attributively (the printing trade) and in forming compounds (drinking song). In some compounds (sewing machine), the first element might reasonably be regarded as the participial adjective, -ing, the compound thus meaning “a machine that sews,” but it is commonly taken as a verbalnoun, the compound being explained as “a machine for sewing”
Examples of 'outsourcing' in a sentence
outsourcing
But that goes with the territory in outsourcing.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Offshore oil and gas, outsourcing and pharmacy are obvious examples.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
As outsourcing is embraced by other countries, there will be more such work.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Equally, this is simply not about traditional outsourcing.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Normally this would be regarded as outsourcing, but the contract was completely different.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The company reported lower revenue than expected, particularly in business process outsourcing.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Almost 100 secretaries could lose their jobs under an outsourcing deal, the firm said.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
And one particular melancholy needs closer scrutiny: the outsourcing mania.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The recent outsourcing of recruitment to a civilian agency has only exacerbated this problem.