commodify

as in to exploit
disapproving to treat (something that cannot be owned or that everyone has a right to) like a product that can be bought and sold Do we really want to commodify our water supply? I feel like our culture is being commodified.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of commodify Critics argue these policies effectively commodify citizenship, potentially undermining social cohesion. David Faris, Newsweek, 2 Nov. 2024 And the logic of marketing dictates that dating apps commodify people into legible archetypes for an easy sale. Josh Greenblatt, WIRED, 17 July 2024 Will the drive to commodify ancient practices defile them? Oshan Jarow, Vox, 7 June 2024 But the pursuit of online fame, particularly through Instagram, has supercharged the often toxic phenomenon, The Times found, encouraging parents to commodify their children’s images. Michael H. Keller, New York Times, 23 Feb. 2024 See All Example Sentences for commodify
Recent Examples of Synonyms for commodify
Verb
  • Chinese discount retailers like Shein and Temu and many Amazon, Walmart, Shopify and other marketplace retailers have exploited the de minimus exception to their advantage.
    Pamela N. Danziger, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025
  • There is a [different] double standard — women have been monstrously exploited and men haven’t...
    Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 2 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Decades earlier, Loftus had demonstrated that people’s memories of visual details could be manipulated by posing questions that contained misinformation.
    Bernice Andrews, Scientific American, 8 Apr. 2025
  • While Ticketmaster denies using surge pricing or dynamic algorithms to manipulate prices, fans like Jessica Chou question if their early participation in presales might be contributing to higher initial costs.
    Caché McClay, USA Today, 8 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Authorities subsequently found that the boy and Ruby's 10-year-old daughter had been seriously abused.
    Liam Quinn, People.com, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Kevin Franke, the father of the children abused by Hildebrandt and his ex-wife, has advocated for more oversight of life coaches since the two women were sent to prison.
    Jessica Schreifels, ProPublica, 27 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Here's why The filing details the company's focus on developing and commercializing genomic tests, particularly the MSC test for lung nodules and the StemPrintER test for breast cancer.
    Quartz Intelligence Newsroom, Quartz, 3 Apr. 2025
  • On the other end of the spectrum are a handful of companies that are trying to commercialize designs that have been extensively studied in the academic world.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 1 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Commodify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/commodify. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.

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