supermarket
Americannoun
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supermarkets
plural
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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:
I’m standing in the produce aisle of my neighborhood supermarket, between the fresh vegetables receiving their bi-hourly overhead mist and a long refrigerated wall of salad kits.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
In other words, the affordability crisis doesn’t unfold only at the supermarket and the gas pump — it’s also a burden for those trying to prepare for the future.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
And even if there were no vegetables at the supermarket, he says, we could just buy sausages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
He and his team sell veg through farmers' markets, but still compete with supermarket prices.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
It was like going to the supermarket to get a new car.
From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy
They became ubiquitous in supermarkets across China, but gained a reputation as unhealthy and unsanitary -- an image latiao brands have spent years trying to counter.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Much of the price data comes from hundreds of BLS employees who fan out across the country every month to check prices at supermarkets, doctors’ offices, clothing stores and the like.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Water and some food items were already running short in supermarkets and shops.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
This is because supermarkets, restaurants – and US consumers – can, and will, simply switch to buying chicken or cheaper imported beef instead.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The industrial food chain has brought the world to our supermarkets.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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.
