verb · neutral
outsource
UK/ˈaʊtsɔːs/US/ˈaʊtsɔrs/OUT·source
To obtain goods or services from an external supplier instead of producing them internally.
Examples
“Many companies outsource IT support to specialised firms abroad.”
“They decided to outsource payroll to reduce administrative costs.”
“Outsourcing manufacturing can lower expenses but may create quality-control challenges.”
Band 8 sentence
“To cut costs while maintaining focus on core activities, many firms outsource routine back‑office functions to specialised providers overseas.”
Collocations
- outsource to
- outsource production
- outsourcing partner
Word family
Common mistakes
They outsourced the work in a cheaper company.→They outsourced the work to a cheaper company.
We do an outsourcing for payroll.→We outsource payroll. / We use outsourcing for payroll.
Say it for a higher band
5send work abroad→6hire outside→7+outsource
Synonyms
subcontract
Easily confused
subcontract
“The main contractor subcontracted the electrical work to a specialist firm.”
Related words
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In Work & Career
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