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Synonyms

marketplace

American  
[mahr-kit-pleys] / ˈmɑr kɪtˌpleɪs /
Or market place

noun

  1. an open area in a town where a market is held.

  2. the commercial world; the realm of business, trade, and economics.

  3. any sphere considered as a place where ideas, thoughts, artistic creations, etc., compete for recognition.

marketplace British  
/ ˈmɑːkɪtˌpleɪs /

noun

  1. a place where a public market is held

  2. any centre where ideas, opinions, etc, are exchanged

  3. the commercial world of buying and selling

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of marketplace

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; market, place

Explanation

A marketplace is a location where people buy goods. When you travel to a new city, you should visit a marketplace to purchase souvenirs for your friends back home. Marketplace often describes an outdoor market where vendors sell produce, meat, crafts, and other goods. Depending where you are, a marketplace might be called a bazaar, a palengke, or a souk. A more general meaning is an economic system or market, or simply the everyday world where things get bought and sold. You should probably test your new lasagna-flavored ice cream in the marketplace to see if anyone will want to buy it!

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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.

Instead, it draws from what is actually happening in the marketplace.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026

In 2023, Authentic put the SI name on Lunatix, a sputtering ticket marketplace.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2026

But there are still plenty of moving parts and uncertainty in the current marketplace.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

What matters, she writes, is “the marketplace of ideas,” and “the case is textbook” because Colorado’s law “distinguishes between two opposed sets of ideas,” only one of which the state approves.

From Slate • Apr. 3, 2026

His daughter, Jean, sold flower bouquets and loaves of fresh-baked bread in her marketplace stall while she flirted, laughing, with the gangly, self-conscious boys who stopped by.

From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry

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.