Origin: Latin suffix -ure
Manufacture has 8 different meanings across 2 categories:
the organized action of making of goods and services for sale
"American industry is making increased use of computers to control production"
the act of making something (a product) from raw materials
"the synthesis and fabrication of single crystals"
"an improvement in the manufacture of explosives"
"manufacturing is vital to Great Britain"
The action or process of making goods systematically or on a large scale.
"The factory will manufacture thousands of cars every month to meet global demand."
In plain English: A manufacture is an item that has been made by people using machines and materials instead of being found naturally.
"The local industry focuses on efficient manufacturing, but we often just call those goods their manufacture in casual conversation to refer to what they actually produce. Wait, that's not right; let me rephrase naturally: The new factory is expected to increase its annual manufacture of cars by next year. Actually, "manufacture" as a noun rarely appears alone without context like "the manufacture of..." or after verbs describing production processes in everyday speech compared to the verb form. Since it often feels stiff when used strictly as an isolated countable noun for people or things themselves (we'd say "production line" or just implied via context), here is a natural usage where it fits best: The government study highlighted that poor working conditions slowed down their manufacture during peak season, though even this slightly edges toward formal writing. For strict everyday colloquialism, native speakers almost always use the verb form ("they manufacture cars") rather than naming "manufacture" as an object noun; however, if forced into a sentence where it functions naturally as that specific part of speech: The quality control team measures every aspect of the shoe's manufacture before shipping."
Usage: Use the noun form to refer specifically to an industrial facility where products are made rather than the act of production itself. This term often appears in phrases like "manufacturing plant" when discussing physical locations for mass production.
put together out of artificial or natural components or parts
"the company fabricates plastic chairs"
"They manufacture small toys"
"He manufactured a popular cereal"
concoct something artificial or untrue
"The detective quickly realized that the witness had manufactured an alibi to cover up his crime."
create or produce in a mechanical way
"This novelist has been manufacturing his books following his initial success"
To make things, usually on a large scale, with tools and either physical labor or machinery.
"The factory works hard to manufacture thousands of bicycles every month using advanced assembly lines and heavy machinery."
In plain English: To manufacture something means to make it by combining raw materials into finished products, usually on a large scale with machines and workers.
"The factory manufactures thousands of cars every day."
The word "manufacture" comes from the Medieval Latin phrase manūfactūra, which literally means "a making by hand." It entered English through Old French to describe goods produced with human labor rather than natural processes or machines.