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Synonyms

e-commerce

American  
[ee-kom-ers] / ˈiˌkɒm ərs /
Or ecommerce

noun

  1. business that is transacted by transferring data electronically, especially over the internet.

e-commerce British  
/ ˈiːˌkɒmɜːs /

noun

  1. business transactions conducted on the internet

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of e-commerce

First recorded in 1990–95; e- 2 + commerce

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.

This is partly because many consumers now begin their product searches directly on the e-commerce platform.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

The market is running a pretty simple narrative that AI is going to kill e-commerce or certain types of businesses.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

Best Buy’s struggles in the e-commerce world are well known.

From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026

The e-commerce upstart went public at a market value of around $430 million, which was less than 0.01% of the S&P 500’s value at the time.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

All of these interoperable banking and e-commerce functions flattened the Internet marketplace so radically that even eBay was taken by surprise.

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.