supermarket
Americannoun
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a large retail market that sells food and other household goods and that is usually operated on a self-service basis.
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any business or company offering an unusually wide range of goods or services.
a financial supermarket that sells stocks, bonds, insurance, and real estate.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of supermarket
Explanation
A supermarket is a store that sells groceries and other goods. Although supermarkets are primarily places to buy food, nowadays you can find everything from shampoo to toys to bestselling novels at a large supermarket. The distinguishing characteristics of a supermarket are that it sells food and household products, and that shoppers serve themselves, often pushing grocery carts and filling them with items. Though some people think of supermarkets as being much larger than grocery stores, others use the two terms interchangeably. This American-coined word first appeared in print in the early 1930s.
Vocabulary lists containing supermarket
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:
Even beyond the supermarket, it was common to use checks at malls, big-box stores or gas stations until the early 2000s, when they were ultimately upstaged by credit and debit cards.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Tesco could sell its European operations "in a move that would bring down the curtain on a three-decade attempt" to build a global empire for the UK's biggest supermarket, the Financial Times reports.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
From there, it’s classic Green Goddess by way of the supermarket deli.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Today, lasers are used throughout modern society, from supermarket barcode scanners to vision correction procedures and advanced scientific instruments.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
I told him yes anyway, I really wanted to make it, so we drove all the way to the Asian supermarket to get adzuki beans and sesame oil.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
The report's authors found the single largest driver of the so-called poverty premium was food shopping, with 39% of families forced to rely on local convenience stores instead of larger supermarkets with more competitive pricing.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
But it was business as usual for supermarkets Sainsbury's and Aldi in their stores on Monday.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Founded in 1931, the privately owned Giant Eagle has nearly 200 supermarkets throughout western Pennsylvania, north central Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland, and Indiana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Pharmacies, supermarkets and other businesses were ransacked, said residents, some of whom complained of the slow and meager post-quake aid coming from authorities.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
Sometimes the park has a general store for supplies, but if not the supermarkets which dot the countryside are available.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
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.
