com ‧ mod ‧ i ‧ ty /kəˈmɒdəti, kəˈmɒdɪti $ kəˈmɑː-/ BrE AmE noun ( plural commodities ) [countable]
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: French ; Origin: commodité , from Latin commoditas , from commodus ; ⇨ ↑ commode ]
1 . a product that is bought and sold:
agricultural commodities
Commodity prices fell sharply.
2 . formal a useful quality or thing:
Time is a precious commodity.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ an important commodity
Crude oil is the world’s most important commodity.
▪ an expensive commodity
Consumers began to find that they could afford more expensive commodities.
▪ a valuable/precious commodity
Land is an extremely valuable commodity.
▪ a rare/scarce commodity
Soap was a scarce commodity during the war.
▪ a hot commodity (=one that a lot of people want to buy)
Web domains ending in .com became hot commodities.
▪ a saleable/tradeable commodity (=one that can be sold or traded)
Land is a freely saleable commodity.
▪ agricultural commodities
The falling prices of agricultural commodities such as coffee have severely affected the economy.
▪ industrial commodities
Sales of the old industrial commodities of iron and coal are still important.
■ commodity + NOUN
▪ commodity prices
Commodity prices are very high in the UK.
▪ a commodity market
Coffee is facing the deepest crisis in a global commodity market since the great depression of the 30s.
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THESAURUS
▪ product noun [countable] something that is made or produced in large quantities, usually in order to be sold:
consumer products such as mobile phones
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dairy products
▪ goods noun [plural] things that are produced in order to be sold, especially for use in the home:
They sell furniture and other household goods.
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electrical goods
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white goods (=large electrical goods used in the home such as washing machines and refrigerators)
▪ commodity noun [countable] formal a type of product or raw material that can be bought and sold – used especially about basic food products, metals, and fuels:
The decline in prices for agricultural commodities made the economic situation worse.
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All metal was a valuable commodity and was rarely wasted.
▪ merchandise noun [uncountable] formal things that are being sold, especially in shops:
Customers are not allowed to handle the merchandise.
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Sales of books, videos, and other merchandise have increased.
▪ wares noun [plural] written things that are offered for sale, especially in a market or on the street:
In the market, the traders began selling their wares.
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Merchants brought their wares from all over the world.
▪ export noun [countable often plural] a product that is sent to a foreign country in order to be sold:
US exports rose to $11.935 billion.
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At the moment, oil is their biggest export.
▪ import noun [countable often plural] goods that are brought from one country into another to be sold there:
The UK clothing industry cannot compete with foreign imports on price.