industrialist
in-DUSS-tree-uh-list
/ɪnˈdʌs.tri.ə.lɪst/
A person involved in the ownership and management of vast industrial enterprises.
Refers specifically to prominent owners of manufacturing, mining, or heavy industry, not small merchants.
The story behind the word. Formed in the 1830s by combining industrial with the personal noun suffix -ist to describe titans of steam power, rail, and steel production.
Word relationships
- magnate: Magnate can apply to media, real estate, or shipping moguls; industrialist is specific to heavy industry and manufacturing.
- laborer: A laborer works for wages in a plant owned by an industrialist.
Commonly confused with
- entrepreneur: An entrepreneur starts new ventures of any scale, while an industrialist manages major heavy manufacturing empires.
Word family
- industrial (adjective): Relating to industry.
Collocations
- wealthy industrialist
- prominent industrialist
- steel industrialist
Example sentences
- "The 19th-century industrialist Andrew Carnegie built a massive steel empire across Pennsylvania." Economic History
- "Many wealthy industrialists established foundations to build public libraries and universities." Philanthropy
Memory hook
INDUSTRIAL-IST: The individual (ist) who owns the whole INDUSTRIAL factory network. The titan of the factory.
When not to use
Do not use for digital software founders unless they oversee massive physical manufacturing plants.
Fun facts
- In 19th-century newspapers, industrialists were alternatively lauded as 'Captains of Industry' or vilified as 'Robber Barons'.
Related words
Explore more words
magnate, tycoon, industrial, shareholder, philanthropist, industrious
Take your vocabulary further with LangBlitz
Our English vocabulary app: FSRS spaced repetition, 5,000+ curated words across 119 topic groups, CEFR A1 to C2. Explore your mastery with the beautiful Vocabulary World feature.