Definitions for factory
ˈfæk tə ri, -trifac·to·ry

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:3.5 / 4 votes

1. factory, mill, manufacturing plant, manufactorynoun

   a plant consisting of one or more buildings with facilities for manufacturing

WiktionaryRate this definition:2.8 / 4 votes

1. factorynoun

   A trading establishment, especially set up by merchants working in a foreign country.

2. factorynoun

   The position or state of being a factor.

3. factorynoun

   A building or other place where manufacturing takes place.

4. factorynoun

   A device which produces or manufactures something.

5. factorynoun

   In a computer program or library, a function or method which creates an object.

6. Etymology: From factoria, from factor. Probably via a Romance language; compare Italian fattoria, Spanish factoría, Portuguese feitoria.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Factorynoun

   Etymology: from factor.

   1. A house or district inhabited by traders in a distant country.2. The traders embodied in one place.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Factory

   A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. They are a critical part of modern economic production, with the majority of the world's goods being created or processed within factories. Factories arose with the introduction of machinery during the Industrial Revolution, when the capital and space requirements became too great for cottage industry or workshops. Early factories that contained small amounts of machinery, such as one or two spinning mules, and fewer than a dozen workers have been called "glorified workshops".Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production. Large factories tend to be located with access to multiple modes of transportation, some having rail, highway and water loading and unloading facilities. In some countries like Australia, it is common to call a factory building a "Shed". Factories may either make discrete products or some type of continuously produced material, such as chemicals, pulp and paper, or refined oil products. Factories manufacturing chemicals are often called plants and may have most of their equipment – tanks, pressure vessels, chemical reactors, pumps and piping – outdoors and operated from control rooms. Oil refineries have most of their equipment outdoors. Discrete products may be final goods, or parts and sub-assemblies which are made into final products elsewhere. Factories may be supplied parts from elsewhere or make them from raw materials. Continuous production industries typically use heat or electricity to transform streams of raw materials into finished products. The term mill originally referred to the milling of grain, which usually used natural resources such as water or wind power until those were displaced by steam power in the 19th century. Because many processes like spinning and weaving, iron rolling, and paper manufacturing were originally powered by water, the term survives as in steel mill, paper mill, etc.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. Factorynoun

   a house or place where factors, or commercial agents, reside, to transact business for their employers

2. Factorynoun

   the body of factors in any place; as, a chaplain to a British factory

3. Factorynoun

   a building, or collection of buildings, appropriated to the manufacture of goods; the place where workmen are employed in fabricating goods, wares, or utensils; a manufactory; as, a cotton factory

4. Etymology: [Cf. F. factorerie.]

FreebaseRate this definition:5.0 / 2 votes

1. Factory

   A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial site, usually consisting of buildings and machinery, or more commonly a complex having several buildings, where workers manufacture goods or operate machines processing one product into another. Factories arose with the introduction of machinery during the Industrial Revolution when the capital and space requirements became too great for cottage industry or workshops. Early factories that contained small amounts of machinery, such as one or two spinning mules, and fewer than a dozen workers have been called "glorified workshops. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production. Large factories tend to be located with access to multiple modes of transportation, with some having rail, highway and water loading and unloading facilities. Factories may either make discrete products or some type of material continuously produced such as chemicals, pulp and paper or refined oil products. Factories manufacturing chemicals are often called plants and may have most of their equipment, consisting of tanks, pressure vessels, chemical reactors and pumps and piping located outdoors and are operated by personnel in control rooms. Oil refineries are similar to chemical plants in that most equipment is outdoors.

Dictionary of Nautical TermsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. factory

   A place where a considerable number of factors reside; as Lisbon, Leghorn, Calcutta, &c. Factory comprehends the business of a firm or company, as that of the India Company at Canton, or the Hudson's Bay Fur Company in North America.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. factory

   A type of building and property created and designed for a specific purpose.

   The factory was located near the village.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on March 2, 2020  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. factory

   The factory symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the factory symbol and its characteristic.

Matched Categories

1. • Plant

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'factory' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2314

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'factory' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1900

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'factory' in Nouns Frequency: #747

How to pronounce factory?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say factory in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of factory in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of factory in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of factory in a Sentence

1. Steven Wright:

   I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere near the place.

2. Zhan Youbing:

   Sometimes, you want to jump ship for better pay at another factory shortly after starting your current job, yet at other times when you want to stay on and settle down, you get fired or the factory gets taken over.

3. Kim Yong-gu:

   We pay for accommodation, meals and other utility costs in order not to lose them to another factory.

4. Joerg Bauer:

   We are about to introduce a double-shift at our plant in Neukirch, open a bigger factory building in nearby Lindau and increase our staff from 40 currently to 60.

5. Kim Jong:

   Kim Jong Un and Ri Sol Ju visit a cosmetics factory in October 2017. ( KCNA via Reuters).

Popularity rank by frequency of use