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smokestack industry UK US noun [C]
► PRODUCTION, NATURAL RESOURCES an industry involved in making things using processes that burn a lot of coal or oil and produce a lot of pollution: »
Unlike old smokestack industries that stagnated in the 1970s and 1980s, the tech field is strong and diverse.
»The transition from the smokestack industries of the past has been painful, but necessary.
Financial and business terms. 2012.