Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business.
  • noun An attitude that emphasizes tangible profit or success.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A commercial custom or expression.
  • noun The supremacy of commercial over moral considerations; regard for commercial or financial advantage only: as, commercialism in politics.
  • noun The maxims and methods of commerce or of commercial men; strict business principles.
  • noun The predominance of commercial pursuits and ideas in an age, a nation, or a community.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The commercial spirit or method.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business.
  • noun A tendency to value profit over everything else.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services)

Etymologies

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Examples

  • "Plus, any guilt you might have about promoting rampant commercialism is minimized if you remind yourself that a portion of proceeds from every copy will be donated to Save the Children." (from the blurb at UrbanBaby. com)

    Books for Unfit Mothers Roger Sutton 2006

  • ANd the likelyhood that the GOP, the party of greed and commercialism, will do something to prevent the mindless commercialism is naive.

    Think Progress » POLL: Only 3 Percent Say Homosexuality is America’s ‘Most Serious Moral Crisis’ 2006

  • "Whip It," the 1980 song that was the anthem of the band Devo's rage against a society dehumanized by industry and commercialism, is now the theme of a Procter & Gamble Co.

    Boing Boing 2003

  • In the United States, commercialism is king and the impulse is to accentuate the moment.

    Hockey is now big (American) business 1999

  • Whether or not commercialism is a good thing for television I am not prepared to discuss today.

    Television—Progress and Promise 1949

  • While in the West the spirit of commercialism is rampant, one is almost obliged to address people more in connection with business interests, and one is almost always sure to be asked what dollars are in view.

    The Navy and the Empire 1910

  • Sci Fi was one of the last sacred places on the outskirts of mainstream commercialism, which is what made it so great!

    SciFi Changes Its Name to "SyFy" Rogers 2009

  • Pagan influences on Christmas have been totally assimilated and defanged, and likewise the Christian spiritual essence of the season has been all but gobbled up by something called commercialism, which, as far as I can tell, means the mindless production and proliferation of spiritually devastating, aesthetically offensive, shoddily-manufactured junk.

    A State of the Season Address 2007

  • I'm so glad we're not a culture saturated in commercialism.

    'Tis the season for dot-coms, sponsors 2000

  • Ordinarily, his interest as an inventor wanes in proportion to the approach to mere commercialism -- in other words, the keenness of his pleasure is in overcoming difficulties rather than the mere piling up of a bank account.

    Edison, His Life and Inventions, vol. 2 1910

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  • “Music can save people, but it can't in the commercial way it's being used. It's just too much. It's pollution.�? - Bob Dylan

    July 30, 2008