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 academics—
Wendy Kaminer
Wendy KaminerExamples of cottage industry in a Sentence
weaving, pottery, and other cottage industries
Recent Examples on the Web
There’s always been a cottage industry of these channels, from corporate EDM lords like Trap Nation and the babes-and-beats slop of Majestic Casual to rap cataloguers like Astari, Araiguma, and karma archives.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 23 July 2025
There is currently an entire cottage industry of internet detectives reading Architectural Digest looking for divorce clues.
—Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 21 July 2025
Complaining about All-Star games is a cottage industry.
—Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
In short order a cottage industry of cranks and pseudo-experts arose, whose steady emission of contextless facts and unprovable assertions long ago seeped into the popular understanding of the bombing.
—Henry Leutwyler Robert Petkoff Emma Kehlbeck Quinton Kamara, New York Times, 20 May 2025
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Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 23 July 2025
There is currently an entire cottage industry of internet detectives reading Architectural Digest looking for divorce clues.
—Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 21 July 2025
Complaining about All-Star games is a cottage industry.
—Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
In short order a cottage industry of cranks and pseudo-experts arose, whose steady emission of contextless facts and unprovable assertions long ago seeped into the popular understanding of the bombing.
—Henry Leutwyler Robert Petkoff Emma Kehlbeck Quinton Kamara, New York Times, 20 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cottage industry
Cite this Entry
“Cottage industry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cottage%20industry. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.
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