monetize

American  

[mon-i-tahyz, muhn-] / ˈmɒn ɪˌtaɪz, ˈmʌn- /

especially British, monetise

verb (used with object)

monetized, monetizing

1. to legalize as money.

2. to coin into money.

   to monetize gold.

3. to give the character of money to.

4. Economics. to convert (a debt, especially the national debt) into currency, especially by issuing government securities or notes.

5. to make a profit or derive income from.

   Lots of people download the game, but the start-up hasn’t been able to monetize the add-on features.

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monetize British  

/ ˈmʌnɪˌtaɪz /

verb

1. to establish as the legal tender of a country

2. to give a legal value to (a coin)

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Other Word Forms

• monetization
  noun

Etymology

Origin of monetize

First recorded in 1875–80; from Latin monēt(a) money + -ize

Explanation

To monetize is to make money. If you write a popular blog, figure out how to monetize it so you don’t work for free. To monetize also means to establish a country's legal tender, as in to literally make money. The word money hides in monetize because it’s all about money. Establishing a new currency, or printing money, is what happens when a country monetizes, like when the European Union decided to monetize the Euro as its new currency. This verb is sometimes used to mean "exchange for money.” These days, monetize often refers to figuring out a way to make money from a website or app.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

monetize monetized monetizing

The audience that allowed them to monetize their creations in the first place had now led to creative paralysis.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

“They know perfectly how to monetize their work.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Taking a page from celebrity influencers’ playbook, non-social-media-famous brides like McGowan are saying “I do” to paid brand collaborations in order to monetize their big day, as well as the events leading up to it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

As a result, the company now has an unrivaled distribution network to monetize on-device AI features down the road.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

Moving beyond capacity assumptions, Nowak believes the “swing factor” determining the company’s growth will come down to how the company can monetize each watt of compute.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026

The consensus view broadly has been that the Google parent’s search and cloud businesses have successfully monetized AI, making it a front-runner in the race for AI dominance.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

It is curated, ranked, monetized and constantly optimized using first-party data that tracks what people watch, when they watch it and how they respond to ads.

From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026

Another groomfluencer, Ethan Lounsbury, 27, was stunned by how quickly he monetized his social media posts directed at husbands-to-be.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026

That means Meta’s AI investments must be monetized internally.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026

IOI believed that Halliday never properly monetized his creation, and they wanted to remedy that.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Critics of the couple argue that the Sussexes want a one-way street—demanding total privacy while simultaneously monetizing their private lives through commercial media deals, which earned them tens of millions of dollars.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

As the company looks to unite designers, marketing and engineering teams, it’s also monetizing its growing user base.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

Moreover, Wood emphasizes that he, like everyone else, “has no idea which, if any, of the hyperscalers are going to be successfully monetizing their AI capex.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026

If Meta slows down capex and starts monetizing it, we see significant upside to revenue and cash flow.”

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

“They’re clearly being more opportunistic and more aggressive about monetizing what they have, relative to a few years ago,” said Stacy Rasgon, a tech analyst at Bernstein.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026