industrialization
n. uncountablen. the process of a country or region changing from a farming society to one based on factories and machines. It usually involves building more cities and using new technology to produce goods.
n. the large-scale development of manufacturing and technical enterprises within an economy. Often involves a transition from agrarian production to factory-based systems and urbanisation.
Rapid industrialization changed the country's economy in just twenty years.
The government introduced new policies to encourage industrialization and reduce the nation's dependence on imported goods.
Historians often debate whether the social costs of rapid industrialization, such as poor working conditions and urban overcrowding, were outweighed by the eventual rise in the general standard of living.
From French industrialisation. Analyzable as industrial + -ization or industrialize + -ation.
Commonly used in historical and economic contexts; often paired with 'rapid' or 'early'.