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

Democracy is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas competing for the votes of citizens. — Arkansas Online, 19 Sep. 2026

Poshmark, with a peer-to-peer marketplace, and the RealReal, focused on luxury items and authentication services. — Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026

Analysts at LendingTree, an online loan marketplace, estimate that for someone with $7,000 in credit card debt, the Fed's rate hike would cost just a few extra dollars each month. — Scott Horsley, NPR, 19 Sep. 2026

Growth in the value of goods sold on Mercari's marketplace in the second half of fiscal 2026 exceeded expectations, while a recovery across multiple categories could support double-digit growth, the bank added. — Jenny Lee, CNBC, 18 Sep. 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