commercialize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make commercial in character, methods, or spirit.
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to emphasize the profitable aspects of, especially at the expense of quality.
to commercialize one's artistic talent.
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to offer for sale; make available as a commodity.
verb
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to make commercial in aim, methods, or character
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to exploit for profit, esp at the expense of quality
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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commercializationnoun
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commercializernoun
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decommercializationnoun
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overcommercializationnoun
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decommercializeverb (used with object)
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overcommercializeverb (used with object)
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quasi-commercializedadjective
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uncommercializedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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commercializesimple
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commercializessimple
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have commercializedperfect
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has commercializedperfect
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am commercializingprogressive
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are commercializingprogressive
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is commercializingprogressive
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have been commercializingperfect progressive
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has been commercializingperfect progressive
Past
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commercializedsimple
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had commercializedperfect
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was commercializingprogressive
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were commercializingprogressive
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had been commercializingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of commercialize
Explanation
To commercialize something is to make money from it. If you're a painter, you might commercialize your art by printing greeting cards and selling them online. The verb commercialize comes from the adjective commercial, "done for financial profit," and its root, the Latin commercium, "trade." When you take an activity or an organization and manage it so that it results in a profit, you commercialize it. Delivering baked goods to your neighbors out of a sense of generosity is one thing — when you start charging them two dollars per cookie, you've commercialized your hobby.
Vocabulary lists containing commercialize
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:
Takeda will be granted exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the new drugs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
The 33rd US president later wrote that it was wrong to "commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency".
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
The funding comes through the agency’s National Quantum Virtual Laboratory program, which unites researchers, industry, and government to develop and commercialize quantum technology.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
While AstraZeneca is late to move into the obesity space, it aims to differentiate its portfolio through combinations of different drugs and by looking to commercialize its assets beyond the U.S., he adds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Howard declined, citing a most unlikely reason: “We do not care to commercialize Seabiscuit.”
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Words such as love, trust, freedom, responsibility and choice have been deformed by a market logic that commercializes and commodifies all relations of exchange.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2022
The court said that José Luis Calama has decided to lead a judicial commission that will travel to Israel to “take testimony from the CEO of the company that commercializes the Pegasus program.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 7, 2022
“That’s very impressive,” says Stephen Dobson, a medical entomologist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, and the founder of MosquitoMate, a company that commercializes Wolbachia as a tool to control the Asian tiger mosquito.
From Nature ● Jul. 16, 2019
Cloudera, a Hortonworks competitor that also commercializes Hadoop, has amassed more than $1 billion in funding from investors is the furthest along in the experiment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2016
The man who discovers means to help his fellow man, does a good act, but is the man with the dollars in front of his eyes who commercializes the discovery and invention.
From Think A Book for To-day by Hunter, Col. Wm. C.
If the technology is commercialized, a single programmable optical chip could perform several tasks, including controlling signal speed and switching between different functions.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
“I didn’t love it as much as the other because of the commercialized feeling of it, and just the fact it never felt you were alone in Yosemite,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Over the past year or so, fringe ideas have been commercialized for the mainstream.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
Quantum computers won’t be considered truly “usable” until they are broadly commercialized.
From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026
When it comes to money, the question isn’t whether human tissues and tissue research will be commercialized.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
AstraZeneca and Ionis are jointly developing and commercializing Wainua in the U.S., while the former has exclusive rest of world commercialization and development rights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
But there are technical obstacles to scaling them up and commercializing them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
The current valuation “makes an investment in Cerebras risky, as it is in very early stages of commercializing its product and it is unclear how much of the market they can capture,” Luria said.
From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026
Like its pure-play peers, Pasqal is in the early stages of commercializing its systems and has yet to generate a profit.
From Barron's ● Apr. 8, 2026
“Netscape helped to guarantee that these open protocols would not be proprietary by commercializing them for the public,” said Andreessen.
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.
