commodify
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to turn into a commodity; make commercial.
-
to treat as if a commodity.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of commodify
First recorded in 1975–80; commod(ity) ( def. ) + -ify ( def. )
Explanation
If your friend was charging you money to hang out with him, he would be trying to commodify your relationship, which means "turn into an opportunity to make money." Commodify comes from commodity, which often means "an item that can be bought and sold for money," plus the suffix -ify which is usually used to mean "make or turn into." So this word means "to make or turn into something that can be bought and sold for money." This term is often used in a disapproving way to imply that whatever is being commodified shouldn't be, maybe because it's special or private.
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:
“Maybe the hotel industry will finally start paying attention and realize they can’t commodify privacy,” she said, “because people will just take their money and their travel budget to hotels that still have bathroom doors.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 20, 2026
"It's driven by this desire to make money out of this – the more likes people can get the more they can possibly commodify the photography they're getting in these places", Garrett said.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026
In some ways, it’s no wonder that artists are more inclined to be introspective right now, leaning into the personal to commodify pages from their diaries.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2025
The pursuit of online fame, particularly through Instagram, has supercharged the often toxic phenomenon, The Times found, encouraging parents to commodify their daughter’s images.
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
According to Andrews and a dissenting California Supreme Court judge, the ruling didn’t prevent commercialization; it just took patients out of the equation and emboldened scientists to commodify tissues in increasing numbers.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
It’s all done in the name of shedding the constraints of a commodified society to find personal and artistic freedom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
As Fenway prices have soared, the experience commodified into a bucket list item with Green Monster seats and a “Sweet Caroline” singalong, the team’s performance has veered around like a cat driving a Buick.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
The Guardian's Marina Hyde said Brooklyn had been "commodified" since before he was born, with his parents selling pictures and stories from as early as Victoria's pregnancy.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026
Instagram and TikTok have encouraged their users to live their lives in interesting, brandable ways, modes of living that can be easily commodified if the algorithm randomly makes a video or post go viral.
From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2025
The more commodified and restricted our access to information, the less efficient the operation of the market, the more poorly it allocates resources in our society.
From The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by Boyle, James
If no one besides academic researchers is willing to take a firm stance against device use among kids, the hesitation only serves the companies that stand to profit from manipulating and commodifying children’s attention.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026
Instead of diagnosing and treating or validating and commodifying each individual’s sweat excess, you might see, first, if you can cool the room down.
From Slate ● May 26, 2024
The kitschiness fuels a debate about whether commodifying “dark tourism” is distasteful or makes history more accessible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
Memes have also been part of a major fund-raising effort for the Ukrainian side, reinforcing and commodifying the public image of a plucky nation that has managed to counter an invasion by a superpower.
From New York Times ● Oct. 8, 2022
We are, in effect, providing that corporation—Disney—with a form of free advertising, commodifying and cheapening our justice work in the process.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 23, 2021
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.
