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
This is the final stop on our tour, which tells the story of how reggaetón music is fueling commercialism in Medellín and transforming tourism in the city.
—
Cat Sposato, AFAR Media, 18 Mar. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for commercialism
Cat Sposato, AFAR Media, 18 Mar. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for commercialism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for commercialism
Noun
-
Fear and greed are often more powerful than formulas.—
Eric Munson,
Forbes.com,
25 July 2025
-
Despite the first trial resulting in a hung juror, leading to their eventual conviction in 1996, the public has remained divided on whether the brothers acted in greed or in self-defense.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
22 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 30 Jul. 2025.
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