trademark
Americannoun
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trademarks
plural
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any name, symbol, figure, letter, word, or mark adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant in order to designate specific goods and to distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others. A trademark is proprietary and is usually registered with the Patent and Trademark Office to assure its exclusive use by its owner or licensee.
-
a distinctive mark or feature particularly characteristic of or identified with a person or thing (often used attributively).
her trademark wit and sarcasm.
verb (used with object)
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trademarks,
present (3rd person singular)
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trademarked,
past participle, past
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trademarking
present participle
-
to stamp or otherwise place a trademark designation upon.
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to register the trademark of.
noun
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the name or other symbol used to identify the goods produced by a particular manufacturer or distributed by a particular dealer and to distinguish them from products associated with competing manufacturers or dealers. A trademark that has been officially registered and is therefore legally protected is known as a Registered Trademark
-
any distinctive sign or mark of the presence of a person or animal
verb
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to label with a trademark
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to register as a trademark
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
trademarksimple
-
trademarkssimple
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have trademarkedperfect
-
has trademarkedperfect
-
am trademarkingprogressive
-
are trademarkingprogressive
-
is trademarkingprogressive
-
have been trademarkingperfect progressive
-
has been trademarkingperfect progressive
Past
-
trademarkedsimple
-
had trademarkedperfect
-
was trademarkingprogressive
-
were trademarkingprogressive
-
had been trademarkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trademark
Explanation
A trademark is a distinctive feature of something or someone, and to trademark is to brand something, especially in a legal sense. You know how a comedian often has a particular joke she's famous for? That's her trademark. A trademark is something specific to a person that can be used to identify her. The legal sense of trademark is an official representation of a business or product that only they can legally use — like the Nike swoosh or their motto "Just do it."
Vocabulary lists containing trademark
Economics
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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:
The Commanders say it was necessary to keep the trademark “under franchise control.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
It was a balanced team performance with a disciplined defence, a trademark of Harbaugh's team throughout his time in Baltimore.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Of course, Na is toying with his audience’s show me anticipation, while plying his trademark humor about rural sensibilities and desperate needling behavior.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
His trademark flourishes included walls of windows and built-in furniture.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
Most important, both featured Pocock’s trademark camber, the slight curvature that gave them compression, spring, and liveliness in the water.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
The album is loaded with Anthrax trademarks — serrated, crunchy riffs, soaring lead vocals, bludgeoning beats, and scorching guitar — but there are also galactic noise effects, angular song structures and atypical chord configurations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Through that entity, Hudson applied for a series of trademarks on Belichick’s catchphrases last year, as well as the term “gold digger.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
One ally describes this as one of Burnham's trademarks, telling me he was a "brilliant leader of teams, and that included Conservative and Lib Dem council leaders".
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
De Palma may be best known for his stylistic trademarks and penchant for perversion, but he’s also one of American cinema’s great realists.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
“I have always loved our elm trees which seemed like trademarks on our landscape,” wrote another Wisconsin woman.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Hyde Lane originally trademarked “Demon Hunter” in 2014 under entertainment, namely live performances.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
The European Court of Justice confirmed that decision, saying the name OpenAI was not sufficiently distinctive to be trademarked.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Matthew McConaughey trademarked his taffylike delivery of “Alright alright alright.”
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Her team argued that there were similarities between the singer's trademarked designs and the company's mark, and that it could mislead consumers into thinking that Swift had endorsed the products.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2026
And, to continue the analogy, you cannot establish a name in a day or two, any more than the manufacturer can make his trademarked goods universally known in a short period.
From The Art of Stage Dancing The Story of a Beautiful and Profitable Profession by Ned Wayburn
EU regulations do not allow trademarking a brand that simply describes a product or service, as that would mean competitors could no longer use those terms in their advertising.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Actual celebrities who have begun trademarking their names and catchphrases do so because their careers are likely to be impacted by AI facsimiles of them.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Matthew McConaughey is taking a novel legal approach to combat unauthorized artificial-intelligence fakes: trademarking himself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
“Somebody probably already beat me to that,” Sanders said of trademarking “hot garbage.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 10, 2023
The name was chosen because of difficulties Intel had in trademarking a number.
From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Guy L. Steele
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.
