In'dus-try, n.

n. [Lat., It., Pr., & Sp. industria, Fr. industrie.] Habitual diligence in any employment, either bodily or mental; steady attention to business; assiduity;—opposed to sloth and idleness; as, industry pays debts, while idleness or despair will increase them.

We are more industrious than our fathers, because in the present time the funds destined for the maintenance of industry are much greater in proportion to those likely to be employed in the maintenance of idleness, than they were two or three centuries ago. A. Smith.

Synonyms—Diligence; assiduousness; laboriousness. See DILIGENCE.