commodify

See also: commoditize

English

Etymology

From commodity +‎ -ify. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈmɒdɪfɑj/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

commodify (third-person singular simple present commodifies, present participle commodifying, simple past and past participle commodified)

1. (transitive) To make something into a commodity, sometimes at the expense of its intrinsic value.
   • 2009 January 17, John R. MacArthur, “Hope as a commodity”, in Toronto Star‎^[1]:

     […] it's only in America that a lovely feeling such as hope can be commodified so expertly, so cynically.

   • 2010 January, Michael Löwy, “Advertising Is a “Serious Health Threat”—to the Environment”, in Monthly Review, volume 6, number 8, →ISSN, page 21:

     As capitalism, especially in its current neoliberal and globalized form, seeks to commodify the world, to transform everything existing—earth, water, air, living creatures, the human body, human relationships, love, religion—into commodities, so advertising aims to sell those commodities by forcing living individuals to serve the commercial necessities of capital.

   • 2011 June 9, Maria Popova, “In a New Book, Food and Sensuality Become Art”, in The Atlantic‎^[2]:

     With over 160 lavish full-color images, 20 mouth-watering recipes, and 40 essays on food, love, and life, La Figa is a genuine treat for the senses and an invitation to approach something that's been overly functionalized and commodified with a little bit more playfulness, poignancy, and poetry.

   • 2023 June 21, A. O. Scott, “Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     Our attention spans have been chopped up and commodified, sold off piecemeal to platforms and algorithms. We’re too busy, too lazy, too preoccupied to lose ourselves in books.

Usage notes

Sometimes used interchangeably with commoditize, sometimes distinguished to have a sense of “non-commercial good becoming commercial”; see commoditize#Usage notes.

Synonyms

• commercialize
• commoditize

Derived terms

• commodifiability
• commodifiable
• commodification
• commodificational
• commodifier
• recommodify

 

Related terms

• decommodify

Translations

to make something a commodity

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 商品化 (zh) (shāngpǐnhuà)

• German: kommerzialisieren (de), kommodifizieren (de) (uncommon)
• Hindi: बाज़ारीकरण m (bāzārīkraṇ)
• Korean: 상품화하다 (sangpumhwa-hada)
• Maori: whakataongahoko
• Polish: utowarowić pf
• Portuguese: comercializar (pt)

Further reading

• commodification on Wikipedia.Wikipedia