Meaning

(business) The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic..

Definitions by Sense

1. (business) The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.
2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.
3. (obsolete) Sexual intercourse.
4. (card games) An 18th-century French card game in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade.
5. (intransitive, archaic) To carry on trade; to traffic.
6. (intransitive, archaic) To hold conversation; to communicate.

Example Sentences

[A]ll libertine diſcourſe, and familiarities vvith vvomen, […] nay even friendſhip it ſelfe […] muſt be vvatched vvith great prudence to be kept ſafe: for vvhich cauſe in ſtead of all theſe perillous commerces of our love, I vvill preferre ſo ſecure an object to it, […]

Fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him [Bunyan] wiser.

Suppose we held our converse not in words, but in music; those who have a bad ear would find themselves cut off from all near commerce, and no better than foreigners in this big world.

carnal commerce

[A]lwaies beware you commerce not with bankrupts, […]

No, sir, he, / Vex'd with a morbid devil in his blood / That veil'd the world with jaundice, hid his face / From all men, and commercing with himself, / He lost the sense that handles daily life— […]

Musicians […] taught the people in angelic harmonies to commerce with heaven.

Word Forms

• commerces
• commercing
• commerced

Synonyms for commerce

Related Words

When Should You Use Commerce?

Use commerce when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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