emporium
Americannoun
-
a large retail store, especially one selling a great variety of articles.
- Synonyms:
- bazaar, marketplace, market
-
a place, town, or city of important commerce, especially a principal center of trade.
New York is one of the world's great emporiums.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of emporium
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin, from Greek empórion “market, emporium,” equivalent to émporos “merchant,” originally “traveler, passenger” ( em- em- 2 + póros “passage, voyage”) + -ion noun suffix of place
Explanation
An emporium is a large store that sells a variety of merchandise. You can call a department store, with its many different departments, an emporium. Any retail store that separates its goods into different areas — like "men's hats" and "kids' shoes" and "household goods" — can be called an emporium. Almost every small city in the United States used to have at least one emporium on its main street, although today you might refer to a big box store or a shopping mall as an emporium. Emporium is a Latin word, rooted in the Greek emporion, "trading place or market," from emporos, "merchant or traveler."
Vocabulary lists containing emporium
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is plausible, if a bit insular—and maybe, as a character says, “even the metaphor of the Emporium might itself be a metaphor.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
Once home to the Liberate Emporium, a metaphysical supply store, this building was already a hub of spiritual activity when Wendy L’Belle-Tividad took it over 10 months ago.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2025
“I came by this album pretty honest,” Howard, 35, said while sitting at a desk at the Sound Emporium in Nashville, the studio where she recorded it.
From New York Times • Jan. 23, 2024
Troopers were called to the law office in Emporium around 3 p.m., but Mincy had already fled the scene in a vehicle, authorities said.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 15, 2023
“Hey,” said Dean, as the crowds swept us by Fryer Tuck's Chip Emporium.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
