factory
/ˈfæk.tɚ.i/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.55 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A building or other place where manufacturing takes place.
noun
A device or process that produces or manufactures something.
noun
A factory farm.
noun
The original state of an electronic device, as it was when it came from the manufacturer.
noun
A trading establishment, especially set up by merchants working in a foreign country.
Example Sentences
- "[…] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit."
- "The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures."
- "History has shown that, even without cheap labor, factories run perfectly well."
- "The guys all knew each other and we were having a jolly old chinwag as we marched them out of the house in front of their stunned neighbours and into a van we had called to take them all to the Factory (police station)."
- "Radio became a star factory for journalists."
- "chicken factory; pig factory"
Etymology
Probably from factor + -y, although in noun sense 1 (“a place where manufacturing takes place”) apparently influenced strongly by association with Classical Latin fact-, the past participial stem of faciō (“to make”); compare manufactory and Latin factōrium (“an oil press”). In noun sense 8 (“a trading establishment”), originally after Portuguese feitoria. In noun sense 9 (“an invoice or inventory”), probably after obsolete Dutch facture (“bill”); see facture. Compare Dutch factorij, Middle French factorie, Spanish factoría.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfæk.tɚ.i/
- British English: /ˈfæk.tə.ɹi/
Usage
- British usage
- Slang
- Archaic
- Obsolete
- Colloquial