commodity — English Dictionary

Noun

1. Anything movable (a good) that is bought and sold.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   It is with the help of the commodity concept that the mechanism of the market is geared to the various elements of industrial life. Commodities are here empirically defined as objects produced for sale on the market; […]. But labor, land, and money are obviously not commodities; the postulate that anything that is bought and sold must have been produced for sale is emphatically untrue in regard to them.

   If a key part of shopping is the conversion of anonymous commodities into possessions, shopping is a cultural as much as an economic activity.

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   In human geography "commodities" usually refers to goods and services which are bought and sold. The simplest commodities are those produced by the production system just before they are sold.

   Referring to the work of Bourdieu, Zukin (2004,38) notes that shopping is much more than the purchase of commodities.

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   For mineral trains, he adds little other than pointing out the need to expand single-commodity trains and to end the use of mixed-commodity services that required extensive marshalling.

2. Something useful or valuable.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

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   And Slade said: "It really makes me sad that football club chairmen and boards seem to have lost that most precious commodity - patience. "Sam's sacking at Newcastle had, I suppose, been on the cards for a while, but it is really ridiculous to fire a manager after such a short time.

3. Raw materials, agricultural and other primary products as objects of large-scale trading in specialized exchanges.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   The price of crude oil is determined in continuous trading between professional players in World's many commodities exchanges.

4. Undifferentiated goods characterized by a low profit margin and (usually) fungibility, as distinguished from branded products not wholly fungible.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Although they were once in the forefront of consumer electronics, the calculators have become a mere commodity.

5. Anything which has both a use value and an exchange value.

   Usage

   • Marxism
   • Countable
   • Uncountable

6. Convenience; usefulness, suitability.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

7. Self-interest; personal convenience or advantage.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

   Examples

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   Shall we employ the intelligence Heaven hath bestowed upon us for our greatest good, to our ruine? repugning natures desseign and the universal order and vicissitude of things, which implieth that every man should use his instruments and meanes for his owne commoditie?

   they commonly respect their own ends, commodity is the steer of all their action[…].

Noun

1. a raw material that is sold in large quantities, usually to other businesses for manufacturing or production purposes

   Synonyms

   trade goodgood

   Broader terms

   artifactartefact