industrial
/ɪnˈdʌstrɪəl
/adjective
1Relating to or characterized by industry: industrial waste a small industrial town...
- The Government has been arguing that it is this measure that will be the ultimate safeguard for citizens involved in peaceful protests and industrial strikes.
- There is talk of how Bilbao, a small industrial town on the North coast of Spain, through its Guggenheim Museum.
- A disused coal mine shaft was used for decades to dump hundreds of tons of industrial waste.
Synonyms
manufacturing, factory;
commercial, business, trade
1.1Having highly developed industries: the major industrial nations...
- Accordingly in 1939 only the more developed industrial nations could hope to exercise any significant degree of air power.
- He spoke after the conclusion of the annual meeting of the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations near Beijing yesterday.
- The death penalty has long isolated the United States among Western industrial nations.
1.2Designed or suitable for use in industry: industrial heating oil...
- Campus also distributes heating oil and industrial fuel.
- In practice, these industrial laws are systematically designed to increase the atomisation - and thereby reduce the power - of working people.
1.3(Of a disease or injury) contracted or sustained in the course of employment, especially in a factory.They gave broad political endorsement to the new wording in the sections dealing with health care, industrial injury benefits, and death grants....
- The death was caused by an industrial disease or related to the deceased's employment or to an accident, violence, neglect, abortion, or poisoning.
- He died earlier this year after contracting the killer industrial disease mesothelioma, which is caused by exposure to asbestos dust.
2Very great in extent or amount: we are seeing tax avoidance on an industrial scale they quaff industrial quantities of beer...
- I just want to be able to shut both my peepers without having to use industrial quantities of surgical tape.
- Ferdinand's yesterday owed a huge debt to Sorensen's apparent decision to coat his gloves before the match in industrial quantities of grease.
- In retrospect, drinking industrial quantities of beer was maybe not the best thing to do while still convalescing.
3Relating to or denoting a type of harsh, uncompromising rock music incorporating sounds resembling those produced by industrial machinery: noisy, industrial dance music the industrial supergroup of the 90s...
- They incorporate industrial noise, samples and filters, shifting gears but never losing focus or edge.
- It's a more industrial sound, but also with a heavy metal twist.
- The sounds become electronic drones, otherworldly howls, pulverizing static, and then are melded into harsh industrial soundscapes.
noun (industrials)
Shares in industrial companies.Even with the Nasdaq off 9%, its stock price has soared 60% this year, to 70, outperforming the rest of the Dow Jones industrials....
- It wasn't until May 26, 1896, that Dow split transportation and industrials into two different averages, creating what we know now as the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
- Will this stock remain on the Dow Jones industrials?
Origin
Late 15th century: from industry + -al; in later use influenced by French industriel.