commerce
1 Americannoun
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an interchange of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale between different countries foreign commerce or between different parts of the same country domestic commerce; trade; business.
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social relations, especially the exchange of views, attitudes, etc.
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sexual intercourse.
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intellectual or spiritual interchange; communion.
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Also called Commerce Department. (initial capital letter) the Department of Commerce.
noun
noun
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the activity embracing all forms of the purchase and sale of goods and services
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social relations and exchange, esp of opinions, attitudes, etc
Usage
What does commerce mean? Commerce refers to the buying and selling of goods and products, especially on a large scale, as in New York City is a major center of commerce where billions of dollars are exchanged every day. The word commerce is almost always used to refer to business, trade, and the movement of things that are being bought and sold. Commerce can refer to either the exchange of goods between countries (international or foreign commerce) or the exchange that occurs within one country (domestic commerce).Much less frequently, commerce is used to mean an exchanging of ideas or views as part of social interaction, as in The club promoted intellectual commerce among the students.Commerce is similar to the word trade and the two words can generally be used as synonyms. Trade describes a more general exchange of goods and money, while commerce describes large-scale trading, such as at an interstate or international level, which requires large numbers of trucks, planes, and other delivery methods.Example: After the war, the small country experienced an increase in commerce with neighboring countries because transporting products was safe again.
Related Words
See trade.
Etymology
Origin of commerce
First recorded in 1530–40; from Middle French, from Latin commercium, from commerc(ārī) “to trade together” (from com- com- + mercārī “to buy, deal, trade,” verb derivative of merc-, stem of merx “commodity, goods, merchandise”) + -ium -ium
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.
In 2013, PayPal acquired the fintech company Braintree, which owned the social payment service Venmo, giving PayPal an edge in mobile commerce.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
Citi forecasts Meituan’s core local commerce, which includes the food-delivery business, to resume profitability in 3Q.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
White-collar job creation - the kind of employment that an engineering or commerce degree was supposed to guarantee - has fallen from 11% growth before 2020 to just 1% today, according to Naukri Jobspeak Index.
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
The analysts say Meituan’s core local commerce segment could return to profitability as soon as 2Q.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
What was unusual, though, was that Portman sealed the deal via a videoconference with Maqbool Bin Ali Sultan, Oman’s minister of commerce and industry, who participated virtually from Muscat, the country’s capital.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
