cottage industry

noun

1
: an industry whose labor force consists of family units or individuals working at home with their own equipment
2
: a small and often informally organized industry
3
: a limited but enthusiastically pursued activity or subject
this debate about sex and law became a cottage industry for feminist academicsWendy Kaminer

Examples of cottage industry in a Sentence

weaving, pottery, and other cottage industries
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Listen to this article Former Rep. George Santos has leveraged his criminal notoriety as a con man and serial liar into a lucrative cottage industry with a nearly million-dollar windfall. John Annese, New York Daily News, 8 Jan. 2025 The unique awfulness of beef’s climate impact has inspired a cottage industry of takes imploring Americans to consider other proteins in its stead: chicken, fish, pork, beans. Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 8 Jan. 2025 Exposing digital disinformation products has become its own cottage industry. Thomas Rid, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2024 In the aftermath of that change, medical exemptions surged, with a cottage industry popping up of doctors specializing in granting exemptions, causing the legislature to crack down on those practices with SB 276. Andrew Keatts, Axios, 19 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for cottage industry 

Word History

First Known Use

1849, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cottage industry was in 1849

Dictionary Entries Near cottage industry

Cite this Entry

“Cottage industry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cottage%20industry. Accessed 19 Jan. 2025.

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