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
These shows were also a benefit — for cats — launching a veritable cottage industry of CAT FLAG T-shirts.
—Jim Ruland, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2025
Therefore there's a cottage industry, spearheaded by NASA's Simulant Development Laboratory, which creates different types of simulated lunar regolith.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 3 Apr. 2025
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
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Jim Ruland, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2025
Therefore there's a cottage industry, spearheaded by NASA's Simulant Development Laboratory, which creates different types of simulated lunar regolith.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 3 Apr. 2025
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
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 10 Aug. 2025.
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