maquiladora

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/ˌmɑkɪləˈdɔːɹə/

noun

An assembly plant in Mexico owned by a company from the United States or another foreign country, using cheap local labour and imported components, and which then exports its products to the company's country of origin; also (by extension) similar factories in other countries.

UncommonFirst used 20th c.Scrabble 23

Meanings

nounmaquiladora (plural maquiladoras)

plural maquiladoras

  1. An assembly plant in Mexico owned by a company from the United States or another foreign country, using cheap local labour and imported components, and which then exports its products to the company's country of origin; also (by extension) similar factories in other countries.First known use 20th c.

    If such maquiladora projects are to be the model for Haiti's economic future, they will simply create future generations of sweatshop labor at subsistence wages.

    2013, Amy Wilentz, Farewell, Fred Voodoo, Simon & Schuster, page 114
    1 more example

    The girls were invariably captured while running errands in the centre of town, or on their way to or from work in the hundreds of maquiladoras: sweatshop assembly plants that constitute the economy of Juárez, manufacturing (for rock-bottom wages) the goods that America and Europe deem essential to keep their supermarket shelves and car-concession outlets stocked.

    2014 May 4, Ed Vulliamy, The Guardian

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Mexican Spanishmaquiladora
  2. Englishmaquiladora

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish maquiladora, from maquilar (“assemble”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Portuguese maquiladora
  • maquiladoraan assembly plant in Mexico near the border with the United States
Cite this entry
APA

maquiladora. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maquiladora

MLA

“maquiladora.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maquiladora. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “maquiladora,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maquiladora.

Source: maquiladora on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.