sharing economy

noun

Updated on: 21 Apr 2018

Definition of sharing economy

: economic activity that involves individuals buying or selling usually temporary access to goods or services especially as arranged through an online company or organization

Arguably the biggest sector of the sharing economy is travel. People are renting their beds to out-of-towners (Airbnb and Couchsurfer), leading them on guided tours (Vayable and CanaryHop) and hosting meals (Voulez Vous Diner and EatWith), sometimes for free but on most sites for a price—though one far below those found at local hotels.
—Eliana Dockterman

Recent Examples of sharing economy from the Web

Essential stories from WIRED’s canon Way back in 2014, when the sharing economy was still new, WIRED's Jason Tanz took a close look at how Silicon Valley convinced us all to give up our privacy and propriety and trust the strangers.

— aarian marshall, WIRED, "This Week in the Future of Cars: Sharing Spaces," 13 Apr. 2018
China’s sharing economy clocked up $500 billion in transactions by 600 million people last year, according to official figures, around nine times U.S. user levels.

— Time, "The Trouble with Sharing: China's Bike Fever Has Reached Saturation Point," 2 Apr. 2018
Many other cities have tried to regulate sharing economies such as vacation rentals.

— Washington Post, "Berlin had some of the world’s most restrictive rules for Airbnb rentals. Now it’s loosening up.," 28 Mar. 2018
Decades before the image-sharing economy of the Internet arose, the company poured its resources into hiring photographers like Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, and Steven Meisel.

— molly young, GQ, "The Excessive Vision of Donatella Versace," 20 Mar. 2018
Renault's concept vehicle EZ-GO is designed to be pooled and available on-demand like a taxi service, continuing the trend of the 'sharing economy' seen with companies like Uber.

— marco della cava, USA TODAY, "These electric cars want to learn from Apple's hits and Tesla's misses," 13 Mar. 2018
In part because of the sharing economy that exists.

— philip bump, Washington Post, "Here are the tools that could be used to create the fake news of the future," 12 Feb. 2018
New ground transportation options are blossoming in the sharing economy.

— christopher elliott, chicagotribune.com, "Travelers are rethinking rental cars - here's why," 8 Feb. 2018
So how does one perform their sharing economy due diligence?

— cathy cunningham, chicagotribune.com, "Help Squad: Navigating the ins and outs of the sharing economy," 14 Dec. 2017

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