A period when major social and economic changes took place in Britain, Europe, and the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when new machinery, new sources of electrical power, and new ways of manufacturing products were developed.

1. The social and economic changes brought about when the extensive mechanization of production systems resulted in a major shift from home manufacturing to large-scale factory production.
2. A complex of economic and social changes caused by the shift of production from hand or physical labor at home, or in small workshops, to mechanized systems in large factories; such as, in the weaving of textiles, etc.