commercialize

verb

com·​mer·​cial·​ize kə-ˈmər-shə-ˌlīz 

commercialized; commercializing

transitive verb

1

a

: to manage on a business basis for profit

b

: to develop commerce in

2

: to exploit for profit

commercialize Christmas

3

: to debase in quality for more profit

commercialization

kə-ˌmər-sh(ə-)lə-ˈzā-shən 

noun

Examples of commercialize in a Sentence

The company hopes to commercialize the drug next year.

Recent Examples on the Web

The proliferation of strong offerings from international universities demonstrate the battleground, where universities are increasingly commercialized, and students are the consumers. —Dr. Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj, Forbes.com, 26 May 2025

Autonomous vehicle technology has been hard to commercialize, with tight regulations and heavy investments forcing many companies to give up. —Akash Sriram, USA Today, 22 May 2025

In response, the school is looking to better commercialize the athletic department, overhauling ticket sales, hospitality, sponsorships and more. —Scott Soshnick, Sportico.com, 20 May 2025

Led by Altman, OpenAI has been commercializing products in recent years, most notably its viral ChatGPT chatbot, which was launched in late 2022. —Hayden Field, CNBC, 5 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for commercialize

• actualize
• antagonize
• apologise
• apologize
• capitalize
• categorize
• characterize
• conceptualize
• contrariwise
• criminalize
• decentralize
• democratize

Kids Definition

commercialize

verb

com·​mer·​cial·​ize kə-ˈmər-shə-ˌlīz 

commercialized; commercializing

1

: to manage for the sake of making a profit

2

: to use for profit

commercialize Christmas

commercialization

-ˌmər-shə-lə-ˈzā-shən 

noun