commercial

adjective com·mer·cial \ kə-ˈmər-shəl \

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

1 a (1) : occupied with or engaged in commerce or work intended for commerce

a commercial artist

(2) : of or relating to commerce

commercial regulations

commercial services

(3) : characteristic of commerce

commercial weights

(4) : suitable, adequate, or prepared for commerce

found oil in commercial quantities

b (1) : being of an average or inferior quality

commercial oxalic acid

show-quality versus commercial cattle

(2) : producing artistic work of low standards for quick market success

2 a : viewed with regard to profit

a commercial success

of no commercial value

b : designed for a large market

commercial coffee production

3 : emphasizing skills and subjects useful in business

a commercial school

4 : supported by advertisers

commercial TV

—

commerciality

play \kə-ˌmər-shē-ˈa-lə-tē\ noun

—

commercially

play \kə-ˈmər-sh(ə-)lē\ adverb

See commercial defined for English-language learners

See commercial defined for kids

Examples of commercial in a Sentence

Their music is too commercial.
The average American sees and hears thousands of commercial messages each day.

Recent Examples of commercial from the Web

Stolnack has fought proposals to allow residential development east of Sepulveda Boulevard, a traditionally commercial part of the city that is home to aerospace, tech and manufacturing companies like Mattel.

— robin abcarian, latimes.com, "Sleepy little El Segundo is suddenly on the radar and fighting to keep its small-town identity," 17 Apr. 2018
Fifty-three commercial dairy farms remain in operation in Jersey, down from 86 in 2011.

— jason nark, Philly.com, "As milk prices keep falling, more Pa. dairy farmers are calling it quits," 17 Apr. 2018
But the company has seen a rise in requests from corporate chief executives and other commercial users, Andone said in a phone interview.

— ari natter, Bloomberg.com, "EPA’s $43,000 Secure Phone Booth Came With Sound-Trapping Vents," 17 Apr. 2018
The laurel is bestowed every quarter to commercial kitchens that sparkle.

— anne saker, Cincinnati.com, "Who's got the cleanest kitchens in Hamilton County?," 17 Apr. 2018
The glass used in Dallas is manufactured by View Inc., a 10-year-old Silicon Valley company that targets commercial offices, hospitals, higher education facilities, airports and other places where customer satisfaction is a priority.

— jaclyn gallucci, Fortune, "Airports Are Using ‘Smart Glass’ to Make You Spend More Money," 17 Apr. 2018
This feature is intended primarily for residential brokers, who will be given preference, but pieces about commercial real estate will also be accepted as space allows.

— anne platt, miamiherald, "40 years of relationships solve international Miami mortgage mystery | Miami Herald," 16 Apr. 2018
The commercial component of any project would not be eligible for tax abatements.

— jennifer conn, akron reporter, cleveland.com, "Akron City Council considers zoning amendments to spur economic development in West Hill Village," 16 Apr. 2018
During the briefing, Culberson was told no commercial rocket can do this, even SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, which flew for the first time in February.

— eric berger, Ars Technica, "The billion-dollar question: How does the Clipper mission get to Europa?," 16 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'commercial.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of commercial

see ¹commerce

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1598

See Words from the same year

commercial Synonyms

Other Business Terms

amortize, caveat emptor, clearinghouse, divest, due diligence, emolument, green-collar, marque, overhead, perquisite

commercial

noun

: an advertisement on radio or television

See commercial defined for English-language learners

Examples of commercial in a Sentence

a commercial for a new kind of soap

Recent Examples of commercial from the Web

There was an immediate backlash, and rightly so: No King sermon is fit for a commercial, but especially not this homily, which explicitly confronts the dangers of capitalism and calls out advertisers by name.

— dagmawi woubshet, The Atlantic, "Revisiting King's Final and Most Haunting Sermon," 1 Apr. 2018
The Grand Central installation and Super Bowl commercial, to name two examples, are ways in which the cause and its mission have been brought to new audiences.

— sam dangremond, Town & Country, "How Matt Damon's Charity and Stella Artois Are Bringing Clean Water to the Developing World," 27 Mar. 2018
It was featured in commercials, print ads and on various magazine covers.

— justin l. mack, Indianapolis Star, "Batmobile, KITT creator's craziest custom car to be sold at Mecum Indianapolis," 18 Mar. 2018
Now it's mostly relegated to awesomely '80s commercials like this one: What flavor is the Shamrock Shake?

— tanya pai, Vox, "Shamrock Shakes, and their cult following, explained," 16 Mar. 2018
Some Echo users reported last week that the voice assistant was down for several hours, drawing comparisons to Amazon's Super Bowl commercial, in which the assistant lost its voice.

— author: hayley tsukayama, Anchorage Daily News, "Amazon’s Alexa randomly laughs at users and nobody knows why," 8 Mar. 2018
Between the speeches, introductions, commercials, and hilarious segues from host Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars are quite the marathon.

— brooke bobb, Vogue, "Tiffany Haddish Wins the Oscars by Wearing UGG Slippers Onstage," 5 Mar. 2018
Take a walk down memory lane and watch the iconic commercial, which will definitely be stuck in your head the rest of the day.

— shannon barbour, Cosmopolitan, "The Original 'My Little Pony' Toys are Back and Making Your Childhood Dreams Come True," 1 Mar. 2018
The mesmerizing video art -- moving collages that pull visuals from film, commercials, news reels and other cultural detritus -- augments and amplifies the familiar musical numbers.

— andrea simakis, cleveland.com, "The redawning of Aquarius: Beck's 'Hair' a shining, gleaming and relevant reflection (review)," 16 Feb. 2018

First Known Use of commercial

1935

Other Broadcasting Terms

continuity, dissolve, fade, feed, remote, residual, spike, wipe

COMMERCIAL Defined for English Language Learners

commercial

adjective

: related to or used in the buying and selling of goods and services
: concerned with earning money
: relating to or based on the amount of profit that something earns

commercial

noun

: an advertisement on radio or television

COMMERCIAL Defined for Kids

commercial

noun com·mer·cial \ kə-ˈmər-shəl \

: an advertisement broadcast on radio or television

commercial

adjective

1 : having to do with the buying and selling of goods and services

2 : used to earn a profit

a commercial jet

—

commercially

adverb

Law Dictionary

commercial

adjective com·mer·cial

: of or relating to commerce

commercial regulations

—

commercially

adverb

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commercial

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COMMERCIAL Defined for English Language Learners

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COMMERCIAL Defined for Kids

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