marketplace
Americannoun
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a place where a public market is held
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any centre where ideas, opinions, etc, are exchanged
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the commercial world of buying and selling
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of marketplace
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at market, place
Explanation
A marketplace is a location where people buy goods. When you travel to a new city, you should visit a marketplace to purchase souvenirs for your friends back home. Marketplace often describes an outdoor market where vendors sell produce, meat, crafts, and other goods. Depending where you are, a marketplace might be called a bazaar, a palengke, or a souk. A more general meaning is an economic system or market, or simply the everyday world where things get bought and sold. You should probably test your new lasagna-flavored ice cream in the marketplace to see if anyone will want to buy it!
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:
Infante sees that selectiveness reflected in the marketplace.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
“Our marketplace only works when fans attend an event.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
"The missing vultures are almost back. If you go to the marketplace now, you see vultures. At one time they disappeared, but now they are coming back," Igwe confirms.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
And he led negotiations for China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 -- a move seen as consolidating the country's transformation from an isolated economy under Mao to the marketplace of the world.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
“This is my maa and baap and my brothers and our cow, which we had to sell so I could marry you. This is our marketplace, where my baap has a stall to write letters.”
From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan
Officials say the scammers place fake listings on social media and other online marketplaces, sometimes using artificial intelligence to make the content appear legitimate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
But some of these make-up products, which are being sold by third-party sellers on online marketplaces such as TikTok Shop, can contain a host of toxic chemicals, warns the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, external.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
"It's appalling that online marketplaces continue to fail to prevent dangerous products from reaching consumers, despite countless warnings."
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The derivatives marketplaces alleges that perpetuals aren’t actually futures contracts but instead act as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act, which would mean they should be subject to stricter rules and blocked from retail traders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
He described, in his halting way, a city of whitewashed houses and tile roofs, of vines spilling over walls, of busy marketplaces and beautiful gardens.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
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.
