industry

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: in=dus=try

CIDE DICTIONARY

industry, n. [L. industria, cf. industrius diligent; of uncertain origin: cf. F. industrie.].

•  Habitual diligence in any employment or pursuit, either bodily or mental; steady attention to business; assiduity; -- opposed to sloth and idleness; as, industry pays debts, while idleness or despair will increase them.  [1913 Webster]

  "We are more industrious than our forefathers, because in the present times the funds destined for the maintenance of industry are much greater in proportion to those which are likely to be employed in the maintenance of idleness, than they were two or three centuries ago."  [1913 Webster]
•  Any department or branch of art, occupation, or business; especially, one which employs much labor and capital and is a distinct branch of trade; as, the sugar industry; the iron industry; the cotton industry.  [1913 Webster]
•  Human exertion of any kind employed for the creation of value, and regarded by some as a species of capital or wealth; labor.

Syn. -- Diligence; assiduity; perseverance; activity; laboriousness; attention. See Diligence.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

industry, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a a branch of trade or manufacture. b trade and manufacture collectively (incentives to industry).
2 concerted or copious activity (the building was a hive of industry).
3 a diligence. b colloq. the diligent study of a particular topic (the Shakespeare industry).
4 habitual employment in useful work.

Etymology

ME, = skill, f. F industrie or L industria diligence

THESAURUS

industry

Aktiengesellschaft, activity, aktiebolag, application, ardor, assiduity, assiduousness, balance of trade, big business, body corporate, bulldog tenacity, business, business dealings, business establishment, bustle, cartel, chamber of commerce, combine, commerce, commercial affairs, commercial enterprise, commercial relations, compagnie, company, concentration, concern, conglomerate, conglomerate corporation, consolidating company, consortium, constancy, copartnership, corporate body, corporation, dealing, dealings, determination, diligence, dirty work, diversified corporation, dogged perseverance, doggedness, donkeywork, drudgery, dynamism, earnestness, effort, employment, endurance, energeticalness, energy, engrossment, enterprise, exertion, fag, fair trade, fatigue, fervor, fidelity, firm, free trade, grind, handiwork, handwork, holding company, house, hustle, indefatigability, industriousness, insistence, insistency, intercourse, joint-stock association, joint-stock company, labor, laboriousness, lick, lick of work, loyalty, manual labor, manufacture, market, marketing, mercantile business, merchantry, moil, multilateral trade, obstinacy, operating company, pains, painstaking, painstakingness, partnership, patience, patience of Job, permanence, perseverance, persistence, persistency, pertinaciousness, pertinacity, plodding, plugging, plunderbund, pool, preoccupation, production, public utility, rat race, reciprocal trade, relentlessness, resolution, restraint of trade, scut work, sedulity, sedulousness, single-mindedness, singleness of purpose, slavery, slogging, small business, spadework, stability, stamina, staying power, steadfastness, steadiness, stick-to-itiveness, stock company, strenuousness, stroke, stroke of work, stubbornness, sweat, syndicate, task, tenaciousness, tenacity, the business world, the marketplace, thoroughgoingness, thoroughness, tirelessness, tiresome work, toil, trade, trade association, traffic, travail, treadmill, truck, trust, unilateral trade, unremittingness, unsparingness, unswerving attention, utility, vehemence, vigor, work, zealousness

ROGET THESAURUS

industry

Business

N business, occupation, employment, pursuit, what one is doing, what one is about, affair, concern, matter, case, matter in hand, irons in the fire, thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, mission, charge, care, duty, part, role, cue, province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, walk, walk of life, beat, round, routine, race, career, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty, industry, art, industrial arts, craft, mystery, handicraft, trade, exercise, work, avocation, press of business, businesslike, workaday, professional, official, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting, in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally Adj, a business with an income at its heels, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, par negotiis neque supra.

Activity

N activity, briskness, liveliness, animation, life, vivacity, spirit, dash, energy, snap, vim, nimbleness, agility, smartness, quickness, velocity, alacrity, promptitude, despatch, dispatch, expedition, haste, punctuality, eagerness, zeal, ardor, perfervidum aingenium, empressement, earnestness, intentness, abandon, vigor, devotion, exertion, industry, assiduity, assiduousness, sedulity, laboriousness, drudgery, painstaking, diligence, perseverance, indefatigation, habits of business, vigilance, wakefulness, sleeplessness, restlessness, insomnia, pervigilium, insomnium, racketing, movement, bustle, stir, fuss, ado, bother, pottering, fidget, fidgetiness, flurry, officiousness, dabbling, meddling, interference, interposition, intermeddling, tampering with, intrigue, press of business, no sinecure, plenty to do, many irons in the fire, great doings, busy hum of men, battle of life, thick of the action, housewife, busy bee, new brooms, sharp fellow, sharp blade, devotee, enthusiast, zealot, meddler, intermeddler, intriguer, busybody, pickthank, hummer, hustler, live man, rustler, active, brisk, brisk as a lark, brisk as a bee, lively, animated, vivacious, alive, alive and kicking, frisky, spirited, stirring, nimble, nimble as a squirrel, agile, light-footed, nimble-footed, featly, tripping, quick, prompt, yare, instant, ready, alert, spry, sharp, smart, fast, quick as a lamplighter, expeditious, awake, broad awake, go-ahead, live wide-awake, forward, eager, strenuous, zealous, enterprising, in earnest, resolute, industrious, assiduous, diligent, sedulous, notable, painstaking, intent, indefatigable, unwearied, unsleeping, never tired, plodding, hard-working, businesslike, workaday, bustling, restless, restless as a hyena, fussy, fidgety, pottering, busy, busy as hen with one chicken, working, at work, on duty, in harness, up in arms, on one's legs, at call, up and doing, up and stirring, busy, occupied, hard at work, hard at it, up to one's ears in, full of business, busy as a bee, busy as a one-armed paperhanger, meddling, meddlesome, pushing, officious, overofficious, intrigant, astir, stirring, agoing, afoot, on foot, in full swing, eventful, on the alert, actively, with life and spirit, with might and main &c, with haste, with wings, full tilt, in mediis rebus, Int, be alive, look alive, look sharp!, move on, push on!, keep moving!, go ahead!, stir your stumps!, age quod agis!, jaldi!, karo!, step lively!, carpe diem, seize the day, nulla dies sine linea, nec mora nec requies, the plot thickens, No sooner said than done, veni vidi vici, catch a weasel asleep, abends wird der Faule fleissig, dictum ac factum, schwere Arbeit in der Jugend ist sanfte Ruhe im Al, hard work in youth means soft rest in age, the busy hum of men.

Exertion

N exertion, effort, strain, tug, pull, stress, throw, stretch, struggle, spell, spurt, spirt, stroke of work, stitch of work, a strong pull a long pull and a pull all together, dead lift, heft, gymnastics, exercise, exercitation, wear and tear, ado, toil and trouble, uphill work, hard work, warm work, harvest time, labor, work, toil, travail, manual labor, sweat of one's brow, swink, drudgery, slavery, fagging, hammering, limae labor, industry, industriousness, operoseness, operosity, trouble, pains, duty, resolution, energy, laboring, laborious, operose, elaborate, strained, toilsome, troublesome, wearisome, uphill, herculean, gymnastic, palestric, hard-working, painstaking, strenuous, energetic, hard at work, on the stretch, laboriously, lustily, pugnis et calcibus, with might and main, with all one's might, with a strong hand, with a sledge hammer, with much ado, to the best of one's abilities, totis viribus, vi et armis, manibus pedibusque, tooth and nail, unguibus et rostro, hammer and tongs, heart and soul, through thick and thin, by the sweat of one's brow, suo Marte, aide-toi le ciel t'aidera, and still be doing, never done, buen principio la mitad es hecha, cosa ben fatta e' fatta due volie, it is better to wear out than to rust out, labor omnia vincit, labor, wide as the earth, has its summit in Heaven, le travail du corps delivre des peines de l'esprit, manu forti, ora et labora.