What does "proto-industry" mean?

Domestic manufacturing or commercial activity seen as being a precursor to industrialization.

What is a synonym for "proto-industry"?

Common synonyms include: cottage industry.

Proto-industry

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Domestic manufacturing or commercial activity seen as being a precursor to industrialization. countable, uncountable
"Near-synonym: cottage industry"

Synonyms

All synonyms

cottage industry

Example

More examples

"It is now generally recognised that the rise of cottage industry, or proto-industry as it is now more fashionably called, played an important role in the transformation of the West European economy during the modern era."

Etymology

From proto- + industry.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.