MERCHANDISE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does merchandise mean? 

• MERCHANDISE (noun)
  The noun MERCHANDISE has 1 sense:

1. commodities offered for sale

  Familiarity information: MERCHANDISE used as a noun is very rare.

• MERCHANDISE (verb)
  The verb MERCHANDISE has 1 sense:

1. engage in the trade of

  Familiarity information: MERCHANDISE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MERCHANDISE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Commodities offered for sale

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

merchandise; product; ware

Context example:

that store offers a variety of products

Hypernyms ("merchandise" is a kind of...):

commodity; good; trade good (articles of commerce)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "merchandise"):

contraband (goods whose importation or exportation or possession is prohibited by law)

piece goods; yard goods (merchandise in the form of fabrics sold by the yard)

top of the line (the best (most expensive) in a given line of merchandise)

inventory; stock (the merchandise that a shop has on hand)

software package; software product (merchandise consisting of a computer program that is offered for sale)

dreck; schlock; shlock (merchandise that is shoddy or inferior)

release (merchandise issued for sale or public showing (especially a record or film))

refill (a commercial product that refills a container with its appropriate contents)

number (an item of clothing)

business line; line; line of business; line of merchandise; line of products; product line (a particular kind of product or merchandise)

irregular; second (merchandise that has imperfections; usually sold at a reduced price without the brand name)

ironmongery (the merchandise that is sold in an ironmonger's shop)

generic (any product that can be sold without a brand name)

feature (an article of merchandise that is displayed or advertised more than other articles)

cargo; consignment; freight; lading; load; loading; payload; shipment (goods carried by a large vehicle)

Holonyms ("merchandise" is a part of...):

mercantile establishment; outlet; retail store; sales outlet (a place of business for retailing goods)

Derivation:

merchandise (engage in the trade of)

• MERCHANDISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they merchandise    ... he / she / it merchandises   
Past simple: merchandised   
Past participle: merchandised   
-ing form: merchandising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Engage in the trade of

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

merchandise; trade

Context example:

he is merchandising telephone sets

"Merchandise" entails doing...:

sell (exchange or deliver for money or its equivalent)

buy; purchase (obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction)

Domain category:

commerce; commercialism; mercantilism (transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "merchandise"):

black market; run (deal in illegally, such as arms or liquor)

traffic (trade or deal a commodity)

arbitrage (practice arbitrage, as in the stock market)

traffic (deal illegally)

market (engage in the commercial promotion, sale, or distribution of)

import (bring in from abroad)

export (sell or transfer abroad)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

merchandise (commodities offered for sale)

merchandiser (a businessperson engaged in retail trade)

merchandising (the exchange of goods for an agreed sum of money)

 Context examples 

She had a large acquaintance, of course professionally, among those who can afford to buy, and she disposes of my merchandise.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Bands of armed men clanked along the highway, and the few lines of laden mules which carried the merchandise of the trader were guarded by armed varlets, or by archers hired for the service.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was nothing less than robbery, he concluded—a cold-blooded steal; while he starved, he was pilfered of his merchandise, of his goods, the sale of which was the sole way of getting bread to eat.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But as most of them had, hanging up among their stock, an officer's coat or two, epaulettes and all, I was rendered timid by the costly nature of their dealings, and walked about for a long time without offering my merchandise to anyone.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Here came the merchandise of all the fair countries which are watered by the Garonne and the Dordogne—the cloths of the south, the skins of Guienne, the wines of the Medoc—to be borne away to Hull, Exeter, Dartmouth, Bristol or Chester, in exchange for the wools and woolfels of England.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)