🏞️ Before factories ⏳ Time before industry

preindustrial

5.3

The time before large factories when people mainly grew food and worked by hand

noun
/ˌpriːˈɪndəstrɪəl/

: sociedad preindustrial

In a preindustrial society, most people worked on farms and relied on manual labor for their daily needs.

Examples

Weeds are signifiers of a rural society whose preoccupations have changed from preindustrial to postmodern values.

Academic text (1991)
During the preindustrial era, communities were often small and closely knit, focusing on agriculture and craftsmanship.
Life in preindustrial times was characterized by hand-made goods and limited technological advancement.

Antonyms

industrial

520 3.2

Relating to factories and the making of goods

Surface Forms

preindustrial singular

preindustrials plural

Morphology

preindustrial = preindustrial (semi-transparent) = pre + industry + al

The noun sense is a substantivized use of the adjective, and learners may not automatically infer 'the preindustrial period or condition' from the adjective alone.

Etymology

Preindustrial as a noun means the time before large industry. The pre- part means 'before' and industrial is about industry or 'factory' work, so the preindustrial period was a time of farming and hand-made goods.