COMMODITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does commodity mean? 

• COMMODITY (noun)
  The noun COMMODITY has 1 sense:

1. articles of commerce

  Familiarity information: COMMODITY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMMODITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Articles of commerce

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

commodity; good; trade good

Hypernyms ("commodity" is a kind of...):

artefact; artifact (a man-made object taken as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "commodity"):

basic; staple ((usually in the plural) a necessary commodity for which demand is constant)

consumer goods (goods (as food or clothing) intended for direct use or consumption)

drygoods; soft goods (textiles or clothing and related merchandise)

entrant (a commodity that enters competition with established merchandise)

export; exportation (commodities (goods or services) sold to a foreign country)

fancy goods (goods that are chiefly ornamental)

fungible (a commodity that is freely interchangeable with another in satisfying an obligation)

future (bulk commodities bought or sold at an agreed price for delivery at a specified future date)

import; importation (commodities (goods or services) bought from a foreign country)

merchandise; product; ware (commodities offered for sale)

middling (any commodity of intermediate quality or size (especially when coarse particles of ground wheat are mixed with bran))

shopping (the commodities purchased from stores)

sporting goods (sports equipment sold as a commodity)

worldly good; worldly possession (a commodity or good associated with the earthly, rather than the spiritual, existence of human beings)

salvage (property or goods saved from damage or destruction)

 Context examples 

Some have suggested that trading commodities – most notably walrus tusks – with Europe may have been vital to sustaining the Greenlanders.

(Lost Norse of Greenland fuelled the medieval ivory trade, ancient walrus DNA suggests, University of Cambridge)

An activity concerned with bringing any good, commodity, or service from a foreign source.

(Import, NCI Thesaurus)

The goal of the project is to build a vocabulary server accessed through a well-structured application programming interface (API) capable of accessing and distributing vocabularies as commodity resources.

(LexBIG, NCI Thesaurus)

“I forgot to inquire,” he went on suavely, “as to the nature of your occupation. What commodities do you turn out? What tools and materials do you require?”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Syngas is currently made from a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and is used to produce a range of commodities, such as fuels, pharmaceuticals, plastics and fertilisers.

(‘Artificial leaf’ successfully produces clean gas, University of Cambridge)

It's guts, and magazines have no use for that particular commodity.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

U.S. researchers said this week they have discovered a way to genetically engineer corn, the world's largest commodity crop, to produce a type of amino acid found in meat.

(US Researchers Genetically Modify Corn to Boost Nutritional Value, VOA News)

Walrus ivory was a valuable medieval commodity, used to carve luxury items such as ornate crucifixes or pieces for games like chess and Viking favourite hnefatafl.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

Palm oil is an important commodity, but it raises concerns over the destruction of tropical rainforests that are replaced by its monocultures, says Kevin Felix Arno Darras, study author and postdoctoral researcher at Germany's University of Göttingen.

(Greener palm oil possible without sacrificing profit, SciDev.Net)

"We improved the nutritional value of corn, the largest commodity crop grown on Earth," Thomas Leustek, professor in the Department of Plant Biology at Rutgers University and co-author of the study, told VOA.

(US Researchers Genetically Modify Corn to Boost Nutritional Value, VOA News)