trademark
Americannoun
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trademarks
plural
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any name, symbol, figure, letter, word, or mark adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant in order to designate specific goods and to distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others. A trademark is proprietary and is usually registered with the Patent and Trademark Office to assure its exclusive use by its owner or licensee.
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a distinctive mark or feature particularly characteristic of or identified with a person or thing (often used attributively).
her trademark wit and sarcasm.
verb (used with object)
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trademarks,
present (3rd person singular)
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trademarked,
past participle, past
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trademarking
present participle
-
to stamp or otherwise place a trademark designation upon.
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to register the trademark of.
noun
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the name or other symbol used to identify the goods produced by a particular manufacturer or distributed by a particular dealer and to distinguish them from products associated with competing manufacturers or dealers. A trademark that has been officially registered and is therefore legally protected is known as a Registered Trademark
-
any distinctive sign or mark of the presence of a person or animal
verb
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to label with a trademark
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to register as a trademark
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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trademarksimple
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trademarkssimple
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have trademarkedperfect
-
has trademarkedperfect
-
am trademarkingprogressive
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are trademarkingprogressive
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is trademarkingprogressive
-
have been trademarkingperfect progressive
-
has been trademarkingperfect progressive
Past
-
trademarkedsimple
-
had trademarkedperfect
-
was trademarkingprogressive
-
were trademarkingprogressive
-
had been trademarkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trademark
Explanation
A trademark is a distinctive feature of something or someone, and to trademark is to brand something, especially in a legal sense. You know how a comedian often has a particular joke she's famous for? That's her trademark. A trademark is something specific to a person that can be used to identify her. The legal sense of trademark is an official representation of a business or product that only they can legally use — like the Nike swoosh or their motto "Just do it."
Vocabulary lists containing trademark
Economics
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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:
A photo from the evening posted on social media shows Jensen and Alice sitting side by side on a red banquette, he wearing his trademark leather jacket, she in a sleeveless top and pearl necklace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
A swath of disaffected progressives started tuning in to his daily marathon livestreams, where Piker riffs on the latest batch of headlines with a trademark off-the-cuff panache.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
But Lubinets -- who was seen in videos doffing his trademark black cap around Lantratova in an act of gallantry -- said he had consciously opted for a different approach.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
Kornacki drew millions of viewers online with his big board and trademark khakis throughout the primary season, when he streamed on nights the network was not on the air.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
Fadi read that Clive’s trademark photography style was “capturing the essence of human diversity, cultures, struggles, and joy.”
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
The album is loaded with Anthrax trademarks — serrated, crunchy riffs, soaring lead vocals, bludgeoning beats, and scorching guitar — but there are also galactic noise effects, angular song structures and atypical chord configurations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Promotional content posted by the White House on social media also included images that resemble trademarks and designs from Microsoft-owned Xbox.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
One ally describes this as one of Burnham's trademarks, telling me he was a "brilliant leader of teams, and that included Conservative and Lib Dem council leaders".
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
De Palma may be best known for his stylistic trademarks and penchant for perversion, but he’s also one of American cinema’s great realists.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
“I have always loved our elm trees which seemed like trademarks on our landscape,” wrote another Wisconsin woman.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
The marketing takeaway: Protecting trademarked IP is critical.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The European Court of Justice confirmed that decision, saying the name OpenAI was not sufficiently distinctive to be trademarked.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Matthew McConaughey trademarked his taffylike delivery of “Alright alright alright.”
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
The nonprofit recently trademarked its name and is in the process of copyrighting its livestream.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2026
And, to continue the analogy, you cannot establish a name in a day or two, any more than the manufacturer can make his trademarked goods universally known in a short period.
From The Art of Stage Dancing The Story of a Beautiful and Profitable Profession by Ned Wayburn
EU regulations do not allow trademarking a brand that simply describes a product or service, as that would mean competitors could no longer use those terms in their advertising.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Actual celebrities who have begun trademarking their names and catchphrases do so because their careers are likely to be impacted by AI facsimiles of them.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
The University of Cambridge has won its fight to stop a rowing company based in the city trademarking its name.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
Matthew McConaughey is taking a novel legal approach to combat unauthorized artificial-intelligence fakes: trademarking himself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
The name was chosen because of difficulties Intel had in trademarking a number.
From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Guy L. Steele
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