as in greed
disapproving
the practice or attitude of placing an excessive emphasis on earning money, making a profit, or buying goods
the increasing commercialism of the Christmas holiday She decried the commercialism of modern society where objects of purely artistic value were often ignored.
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Recent Examples of commercialism
For an experimental project that eschewed commercialism and grew in the studio, American’s backing proved pivotal, because the label provided the time and money to make whatever music Deconstruction wanted to make, which wasn’t a privilege most bands got.
—
Aaron Gilbreath, SPIN, 31 Dec. 2024
Sure, there’s a reasonable and informed argument to be made that its big-budget excess, rampant commercialism, and formulaic checkbox-checking exemplify everything wrong with the AAA gaming industry right now.
—ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
These factions would seem to be holiday rivals of a sort, like people who can’t get enough of all Christmas and the camp bemoaning its commercialism.
—Colin Fleming, New York Daily News, 14 Feb. 2025
This is an age of television contracts and commercialism and Musiala, less an outstanding player more a uniquely special one, is invaluable within that context.
—Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, The Athletic, 14 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for commercialism
Aaron Gilbreath, SPIN, 31 Dec. 2024
Sure, there’s a reasonable and informed argument to be made that its big-budget excess, rampant commercialism, and formulaic checkbox-checking exemplify everything wrong with the AAA gaming industry right now.
—ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
These factions would seem to be holiday rivals of a sort, like people who can’t get enough of all Christmas and the camp bemoaning its commercialism.
—Colin Fleming, New York Daily News, 14 Feb. 2025
This is an age of television contracts and commercialism and Musiala, less an outstanding player more a uniquely special one, is invaluable within that context.
—Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, The Athletic, 14 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for commercialism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for commercialism
Noun
-
While less-friendly fellow robots don’t feel pity, remorse, or fear, buying agents don’t feel greed, FOMO, or brand loyalty.—
Bernard Marr,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
-
Homemade signs showed the breadth of issues that drew the demonstrators together: corporate greed, immigration, women and LGBTQ+ rights and more.—
Ken Palmer,
Freep.com,
3 July 2025
Noun
-
Movingly, this self-insistence can be read as a type of amateur cultural materialism: here, for the record, are the smallest specificities of a working-class English childhood in the sixties and seventies.—
James Wood,
New Yorker,
14 July 2025
-
Lucy’s materialism is what drove the two apart before.—
Myisha Battle,
Time,
20 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Commercialism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/commercialism. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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