/in"deuh stree/ , n. , pl. industries for 1, 2, 7.
1. the aggregate of manufacturing or technically productive enterprises in a particular field, often named after its principal product: the automobile industry; the steel industry.
2. any general business activity; commercial enterprise: the Italian tourist industry.
3. trade or manufacture in general: the rise of industry in Africa.
4. the ownership and management of companies, factories, etc.: friction between labor and industry.
5. systematic work or labor.
6. energetic, devoted activity at any work or task; diligence: Her teacher praised her industry.
7. the aggregate of work, scholarship, and ancillary activity in a particular field, often named after its principal subject: the Mozart industry.
8. Archaeol. an assemblage of artifacts regarded as unmistakably the work of a single prehistoric group.
[ 1475-85; earlier industrie industria, n. use of fem. of industrius INDUSTRIOUS ]
Syn. 6. application, effort, assiduity, industriousness.