commercialize
Americanverb (used with object)
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commercializes,
present (3rd person singular)
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commercialized,
past participle, past
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commercializing
present participle
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to make commercial in character, methods, or spirit.
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to emphasize the profitable aspects of, especially at the expense of quality.
to commercialize one's artistic talent.
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to offer for sale; make available as a commodity.
verb
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to make commercial in aim, methods, or character
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to exploit for profit, esp at the expense of quality
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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commercializationnoun
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commercializernoun
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decommercializationnoun
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overcommercializationnoun
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decommercializeverb (used with object)
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overcommercializeverb (used with object)
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quasi-commercializedadjective
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uncommercializedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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commercializesimple
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commercializessimple
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have commercializedperfect
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has commercializedperfect
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am commercializingprogressive
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are commercializingprogressive
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is commercializingprogressive
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have been commercializingperfect progressive
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has been commercializingperfect progressive
Past
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commercializedsimple
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had commercializedperfect
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was commercializingprogressive
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were commercializingprogressive
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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:
While it’s a significant upgrade on paper, it’d be challenging to commercialize given uniformity issues during mass production, he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Novo will obtain exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize HRS-1596 globally, excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
“Venezuela is willing to negotiate, to commercialize, to agree on those new deals.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
The push into London reflects a race among autonomous-driving companies to commercialize robotaxis by expanding fleets and entering new markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Howard declined, citing a most unlikely reason: “We do not care to commercialize Seabiscuit.”
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
One small company says tariff compliance could consume 2% to 4% of its working capital before it commercializes its first medicine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
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
Thrive Eternal was to be the lead investor in a $4.2-billion capital raise, but there was an immediate global backlash over concerns that the world’s most popular sport was being overly commercialized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
“But that’s not what’s being commercialized by the rest of the industry.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
The tech giant has organized a press launch event in New York to present the Pixel Tag, a rival to the AirTag, a tracking device commercialized by Apple since 2021.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 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
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
The work began as a University SmallSat Technology Partnerships project before developing into EraDrive, which is now commercializing its Era-Core software and related hardware for wider use.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
“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
Today, CSL Behring is entirely responsible for commercializing the treatment.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
Its holdings could benefit by commercializing “free energy” or other novel forms of propulsion seemingly used by UFOs, says Tuttle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 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.
