Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: French
Origin: Greek oikonomia, from oikonomos 'manager of a house'

economy

1 noun
     
Related topics: Economics
e‧con‧o‧my1 S3 W1 plural economies
1 [countable]PE the system by which a country's money and goods are produced and used, or a country considered in this way:
a capitalist economy
the slowdown in the Japanese economy
2 [countable] something that you do in order to spend less money:
The council must make economies to meet government spending targets.
Not insuring your belongings is a false economy (=it is cheaper but could have bad results).
3 [uncountable] the careful use of money, time, goods etc so that nothing is wasted:
The gas fire was turned low for reasons of economy.
The company announced that it would cut 500 jobs as part of an economy drive (=a way to save money).
4

economies of scale

technicalTIBBT the financial advantages of producing something in very large quantities
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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