cottage industry
nounDefinition of cottage industry
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 academics— Wendy Kaminer
Examples of cottage industry in a Sentence
weaving, pottery, and other cottage industries
Recent Examples on the Web
Boston has a cottage industry of community relations experts charged with burnishing builders’ images. — Tim Logan, BostonGlobe.com, "Robocalls. Canvassing. Development efforts in Boston are looking more like political campaigns," 29 Aug. 2019 Unsurprisingly, there's an entire cottage industry built around helping Marketplace sellers to rank higher in search results. — David Z. Morris, Fortune, "Amazon Prime Day: Beware, Fake Reviews May Run Rampant," 15 July 2019 This group of intrepid hair vloggers brought much more awareness to the many textures of black hair and, alongside it, an entire cottage industry that explains what those textures are, and how to take care of them and style them. — Collier Meyerson, WIRED, "The YouTubers Who Changed the Landscape for #NaturalHair," 18 June 2019 That has led to cottage industries of groups that exterminate the animals in all kinds of ways — including with firearms, though the hogs’ thick hides can help shield them from rounds fired from AR-15-style rifles. — Alex Horton, Twin Cities, "Alex Horton: Think 30-50 feral hogs is a joke? Millions are rampaging across the country.," 8 Aug. 2019 That has led to a cottage industry of social-media entrepreneurs seeking to please. — The Economist, "How WhatsApp is used and misused in Africa," 18 July 2019 Used to automatically tag photos on Facebook and unlock people’s iPhones, the systems have fueled a cottage industry of companies offering to secure school entryways, unlock office doors and identify people at public events. — Drew Harwell, Washington Post, "As summer camps turn on facial recognition, parents demand: More smiles, please," 9 Aug. 2019 That has led to cottage industries of groups that exterminate the animals in all kinds of ways - including with firearms, though the hogs' thick hides can help shield them from rounds fired from AR-15-style rifles. — oregonlive.com, "Think 30-50 feral hogs is a joke? Millions more are rampaging across the country.," 6 Aug. 2019 In another awkward moment for a political figure who has made awkwardness something of a cottage industry, President Donald Trump’s gaffe Monday morning stung perhaps more than any other in his string of faux pas. — Patrick May, The Mercury News, "Donald Trump confuses Toledo with Dayton, fails to mention Gilroy in mass shooting remarks," 5 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cottage industry.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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