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
Options for running apparel are so plentiful that a cottage industry of online directories, Instagram mood boards and sub-Reddits have sprung up to help would-be joggers and marathoners make sense of it all.
—Lei Takanashi, CNN, 6 Feb. 2025
Listen to this article Former Rep. George Santos has leveraged his criminal notoriety as a con man and serial liar into a lucrative cottage industry with a nearly million-dollar windfall.
—John Annese, New York Daily News, 8 Jan. 2025
The unique awfulness of beef’s climate impact has inspired a cottage industry of takes imploring Americans to consider other proteins in its stead: chicken, fish, pork, beans.
—Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 8 Jan. 2025
Exposing digital disinformation products has become its own cottage industry.
—Thomas Rid, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cottage industry 
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Lei Takanashi, CNN, 6 Feb. 2025
Listen to this article Former Rep. George Santos has leveraged his criminal notoriety as a con man and serial liar into a lucrative cottage industry with a nearly million-dollar windfall.
—John Annese, New York Daily News, 8 Jan. 2025
The unique awfulness of beef’s climate impact has inspired a cottage industry of takes imploring Americans to consider other proteins in its stead: chicken, fish, pork, beans.
—Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 8 Jan. 2025
Exposing digital disinformation products has become its own cottage industry.
—Thomas Rid, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cottage industry
Dictionary Entries Near cottage industry
Cite this Entry
“Cottage industry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cottage%20industry. Accessed 14 Feb. 2025.
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