merchandise
Americannoun
-
the manufactured goods bought and sold in any business.
-
the stock of goods in a store.
-
goods, especially manufactured goods; commodities.
verb (used without object)
-
merchandises,
present (3rd person singular)
-
merchandised,
past participle, past
-
merchandising
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
merchandises,
present (3rd person singular)
-
merchandised,
past participle, past
-
merchandising
present participle
-
to buy and sell; deal in; trade.
-
to plan or manage the arrangement and promotion of (goods in a store).
When you merchandise your products, promote impulse purchases by grouping like items.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
merchandisesimple
-
merchandisessimple
-
have merchandisedperfect
-
has merchandisedperfect
-
am merchandisingprogressive
-
are merchandisingprogressive
-
is merchandisingprogressive
-
have been merchandisingperfect progressive
-
has been merchandisingperfect progressive
Past
-
merchandisedsimple
-
had merchandisedperfect
-
was merchandisingprogressive
-
were merchandisingprogressive
-
had been merchandisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of merchandise
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English marchandise, from Old French; see merchant, -ice
Explanation
The noun merchandise refers to things that can be bought or sold, like the merchandise that's for sale at your local record shop, or the merchandise sold by sidewalk vendors in a big city. When you go into a store, you're surrounded by merchandise, whether it's food, clothing, or books. Goods that can be bought or sold are merchandise, and so are items connected with a particular movie or music group — like the t-shirts you can buy at a rock concert's merchandise booth. Merchandise is also a verb, meaning "to promote or advertise" — "Retail stores merchandise goods using displays, signs, or mannequins."
Vocabulary lists containing merchandise
Material World: Shopping Lingo
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 10
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This Week In Words: November 21–27, 2020
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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.
See Examples For:
Driving the momentum was a 32% surge in gross merchandise volume, which measures the total value of goods sold across its platform, and which reached $115.57 billion in the second quarter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The LAPD’s Nike case has been parsed in the online sneakerhead community, with questions raised about how much local dealers knew — or should have known — about the origins of their merchandise.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
The online marketplace reported higher revenue of $3.13 billion, and now expects gross merchandise volume to grow between 11.5% and 12.5% in 2026.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Star Wars is one of the most successful movie and media franchises of all-time, spanning hit films, spin-off TV series, books, attractions and merchandise.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Locked glass display cases held rings and necklaces and brooches, and a few guitars and banjos hung on the pine-board-paneled walls to diversify the merchandise.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
“When Salima merchandises a rack, she makes it feel like a full collection,” Mr. Cowan said.
From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2022
“All Hail the Queen” reads the barrage of tweets, emails, taglines and signage on various merchandises including a t-shirt and a full deck of all Queen playing cards adorned with Stewart in royal regalia.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2021
She merchandises products through social media; she sells accessories for brands.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2020
This courageous and unique writer never retreats into metaphysics, never merchandises the jargon of protest.
From Time Magazine Archive
Traders and procurers from up and down the coast converged on Charleston, checking the merchandises eyes and joints and spines, wary of venereal distemper and other afflictions.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
He makes clear that the eventual titans of streetwear were scrappy entrepreneurs who merged graffiti, break dancing, hip-hop, punk rock and skateboarding, all gestures of rebellion they cleverly merchandised.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
Each shop or closet is an amalgamation of history, energy and life, merchandised for discovery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2024
Putin became the first fully merchandised Russian leader: T-shirts, calendars, coffee mugs and imagery such as playing with dogs or riding bare-chested atop a horse through the Russian forest.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 28, 2023
“They are merchandised as ‘It’ items,” said Sharon Graubard, the founder and creative director of MintModa, a fashion forecasting firm.
From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2021
Sonnets xiv MY love is strengthen'd, though more weak in seeming; I love not less, though less the show appear: That love is merchandised whose rich esteeming The owner's tongue doth publish everywhere.
From Bulchevy's Book of English Verse by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
She went on to study fashion buying and merchandising at Manchester Metropolitan University and won a placement at the city's major international fashion brand Boohoo.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
From ‘Springtime for Hitler’ to Yogurt’s merchandising pitch in ‘Spaceballs,’ here are the many sides of a filmmaker who reinvented on-screen comedy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Burlington stock hasn’t traditionally done as well as its peers’ shares, as the company has struggled to match them in terms of merchandising and execution.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
At the center of it all are women parlaying their traditional image into brand partnerships and merchandising deals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Clearly I am going to have what is known in our commercial terminology as a merchandising problem.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
