commercialize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
commercializes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
commercialized,
past participle, past
-
commercializing
present participle
-
to make commercial in character, methods, or spirit.
-
to emphasize the profitable aspects of, especially at the expense of quality.
to commercialize one's artistic talent.
-
to offer for sale; make available as a commodity.
verb
-
to make commercial in aim, methods, or character
-
to exploit for profit, esp at the expense of quality
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
commercializationnoun
-
commercializernoun
-
decommercializationnoun
-
overcommercializationnoun
-
decommercializeverb (used with object)
-
overcommercializeverb (used with object)
-
quasi-commercializedadjective
-
uncommercializedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
commercializesimple
-
commercializessimple
-
have commercializedperfect
-
has commercializedperfect
-
am commercializingprogressive
-
are commercializingprogressive
-
is commercializingprogressive
-
have been commercializingperfect progressive
-
has been commercializingperfect progressive
Past
-
commercializedsimple
-
had commercializedperfect
-
was commercializingprogressive
-
were commercializingprogressive
-
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:
She notes China benefits from lower industrial power prices and rapid infrastructure development, and has a proven ability to commercialize technology at scale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 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
It’s tempting to portray competition in the quantum space as a mad dash, akin to the high-stakes sprints to commercialize cloud compute and artificial intelligence.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
Howard declined, citing a most unlikely reason: “We do not care to commercialize Seabiscuit.”
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Janssen Biotech develops, manufactures and commercializes the drug in exchange for royalty payments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2025
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
Seagen, which develops and commercializes cancer drugs, saw its shares rise after news of the possible bid.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 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
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 Col. Wm. C. Hunter
“But that’s not what’s being commercialized by the rest of the industry.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
The former staffers have sent “don’t you dare” letters to the commission, and one of them argued that the view of the downtown skyline would be cluttered and commercialized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
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
Ajinomoto, which means “essence of flavor”, built its food empire on the discovery of umami and commercialized the so-called fifth taste in its purest form as monosodium glutamate, a “flavor bomb” used by cooks worldwide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 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
“We are taking action to accelerate our revenue growth and profitability, driving productivity across the company with AI and automation, and heavily investing in commercializing innovation at speed and scale,” Krishna said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
In 2025, researchers published around 25,000 papers about 3-D printing of batteries and their components, yet only a handful of startups have even proposed commercializing the technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
He also added that progress toward commercializing Amazon Leo would be a positive step “toward realizing the long-term opportunity around satellite broadband connectivity across a range of devices and formats.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 14, 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.
