To commercialize something means to turn it into a product or service that can be sold for profit. When scientists commercialize a new invention, they figure out how to manufacture it, market it, and sell it to customers. When a company commercializes a technology that was developed in a university lab, they transform it from an experimental prototype into something people can actually buy and use.

The word often describes the moment when an idea stops being just an idea and becomes a real business. A researcher might discover a new type of battery, but commercializing that discovery means building factories, creating packaging, setting prices, and getting it into stores. Sometimes people debate whether certain things should be commercialized: for instance, some argue that putting advertisements in schools commercializes education in ways that feel uncomfortable.

The related word commercial means related to buying and selling. A commercial venture is one designed to make money, and commercials are the advertisements you see on television. Something becomes commercialized when it gets turned into a business opportunity, sometimes changing its original character in the process. When a small neighborhood bakery expands into a chain of 500 stores, it has been commercialized.