marketplace

noun

mar·​ket·​place ˈmär-kət-ˌplās 

1

a

: an open square or place in a town where markets or public sales are held

b

: market

the marketplace is the interpreter of supply and demand

2

: the world of trade or economic activity : the everyday world

3

: a sphere in which intangible values compete for acceptance

the marketplace of ideas

Synonyms of marketplace

• commerce
• trade
• traffic

Examples of marketplace in a Sentence

Their products must compete in the marketplace.

The company has struggled to survive in a rapidly changing marketplace.

Recent Examples on the Web

Of course, under whatever rules, Oscar validation can mean the difference between multi-platform distribution and oblivion in the American marketplace. — Thomas Doherty, HollywoodReporter, 18 July 2026

Chinese systems routinely dominate the weekly leaderboards on OpenRouter, a popular marketplace that lets developers mix and match models from different providers. — Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 17 July 2026

Marketers need to stop treating SEO, social, creators and marketplaces as separate islands. — Bernard May, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026

E-commerce business owners, including those who sell on marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon, can get coverage from Hiscox in minutes. — Liz Knueven, CNBC, 16 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for marketplace

• aerospace
• anatase
• anyplace
• commonplace
• cyberspace
• database
• diabase
• diastase
• dnase
• elastase
• fireplace
• hyperspace

Kids Definition

marketplace

noun

mar·​ket·​place ˈmär-kət-ˌplās 

1

: an open square or place in a town where markets are held

2

: the world of trade

Legal Definition

marketplace

noun

mar·​ket·​place ˈmär-kət-ˌplās 

: the economic system through which different companies compete with each other to sell their products