Industrial

How to spell industrial

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce industrial

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does industrial mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to factories, manufacturing, or large-scale production of goods.

Industrial in a sentence

• The old industrial estate now houses small warehouses and workshops.

• Safety regulations apply to all industrial machinery on the site.

Where does industrial come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin industria, which meant 'diligence' or 'purposeful activity', and originally carried the sense of steady, hard work rather than factories or machines. English picked up the related noun 'industry' through Old French in the late 1400s, and the adjective 'industrial' followed, modelled on the French industriel, appearing in the early 1600s. For a long time it described people who were hard-working and diligent, but with the Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s and 1800s the word shifted firmly toward manufacturing, factories, and large-scale production. The same root still survives in 'industrious', which keeps the older meaning of being busy and hard-working, so the two words make a useful pair to remember. The spelling stays close to its Latin source, with the -trial ending often the spot where writers hesitate, wanting to slip in an extra vowel.

How the word is built

• industri- (from industria: diligence, hard work)
• -al (adjective suffix: relating to)