commercialize

Verb

• exploit for maximal profit, usually by sacrificing quality
• make commercial
  • "Some Amish people have commercialized their way of life"
• To bring into commerce from an earlier condition (such as idea alone, experimental prototypes alone, or one-off custom builds only).
• To apply business methodology to something in order to profit (such as introducing salability to a resource that comes from, or rightfully belongs to, the commons).
• To exploit something for maximum financial gain, sometimes by sacrificing quality.

Examples

• a market district formerly served mainly by artisans but increasingly commercialized for mass tourism
• finding the right balance in paying for water infrastructure (treatment plants and pipe networks) but not commercializing water to the point of excluding low-income people from adequate access to a basic necessity
• the work required not only to invent a device but also to commercialize it

Synonyms

commercialise, market

Related Words

commodify, commoditize, consumerize