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

With the deal, the Pac-12 becomes one of just a handful of leagues to openly commercialize its gambling data. —Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 17 Mar. 2026

According to Global Times, the country is running robot schools dedicated to training humanoids for various real-world tasks, with the aim of commercializing next-gen robotics. —Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 16 Mar. 2026

Lin’s exit exposed tensions between Alibaba’s open-source ambitions and its push to commercialize flagship models. —Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 14 Mar. 2026

Katharine did give us the foundational science, even if her version of the glass was too soft to commercialize. —Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2026

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