commerce
1 Americannoun
-
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.
-
social relations, especially the exchange of views, attitudes, etc.
-
sexual intercourse.
-
intellectual or spiritual interchange; communion.
-
Also called Commerce Department. (initial capital letter) the Department of Commerce.
noun
noun
-
the activity embracing all forms of the purchase and sale of goods and services
-
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.
And so far, investors have been largely unfazed by its valuation, arguing that the company’s steady revenue and earnings growth, market share gains, and successful forays into digital commerce warrant a higher price.
From Barron's
Lores comes to PayPal from HP and said he would “accelerate the delivery of new innovations and to shape the future of digital payments and commerce.”
From MarketWatch
The new head of the Federal Maritime Commission wants the shipping regulator to play a bigger role in protecting American commerce around the globe.
The result is a subtle but significant rewrite of how consumer commerce works in the world’s largest online retail market.
From Barron's
To understand why that pressure exists at all, it helps to look at how quick commerce has grown in Indian cities.
From BBC
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.
