commodify

Definition of commodifynext
as in to exploit
disapproving to treat (something that cannot be owned or that everyone has a right to) like a product that can be bought and sold Do we really want to commodify our water supply? I feel like our culture is being commodified.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of commodify Or will the troves of data being amassed on nonhuman animals be used to further commodify and objectify them? David Gruber, Time, 24 Apr. 2025 Publicis and other advertising firms argue that these new AI tools makes marketing more relevant to customers and less wasteful, but regulators — particularly in Europe — remain wary of systems that commodify vast amounts of personal data. Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 20 Mar. 2025 If the sole aim of a company is to profit, extraction and exploitation become the norm as businesses seek new resources to commodify. Aissa Dearing, JSTOR Daily, 9 Jan. 2025 Far from democratizing creativity, these projects frequently centralize authority and commodify the works of individual creators. Virginie Berger, Forbes, 17 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for commodify
Recent Examples of Synonyms for commodify
Verb
  • Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have uncovered a new processor attack that can bypass defenses in Intel and AMD chips by exploiting a security gap lasting only a handful of instructions.
    Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Other Surrealists, meanwhile, seemed to take from animals a license to exploit other (generally female) bodies, as in Clovis Trouille’sJustine(1937), in which both a naked female figure and a lion are bound and captive.
    Kelly Presutti, ARTnews.com, 28 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • In virtually every practice, Rodgers gives the young quarterbacks a small piece of information — how to throw the ball on the run, how to carry out play-action, how to manipulate defenders with their eyes.
    Mike DeFabo, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • New tools in neuroscience have allowed researchers to manipulate the activity of specific neurons in mice brains.
    Danny G. Winder, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • The City Council instructed the city attorney to regulate phenibut, a drug that’s available at gas stations and being abused as a nervous system depressant.
    Sandra McDonald, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Communities from Lansing, Michigan, to Pflugerville, Texas, are ending their relationship with Flock, largely over concerns regarding out-of-control surveillance, unwanted data sharing, high expenses, and reports of police abusing the tool.
    Cyrus Farivar, ArsTechnica, 28 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Thrive Capital declined to comment when asked if they had been made aware of FIFA’s plans to commercialize an Under-15 tournament.
    Adam Crafton, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The company announced potential overseas robotaxi ​deployments of more than 4,000 vehicles on Tuesday just as fellow autonomous driving firms fight to commercialize robotaxi services abroad.
    Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 19 Aug. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Commodify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/commodify. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

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