Mercantile

//ˈmɝ.kənˌtaɪl// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Concerned with the exchange of goods for profit. not-comparable

    "No sign was over his door; in fact—as with old banks and mercantile houses—advertising in any shape was scorned, and it would have been felt as beneath his dignity to paint, for the benefit of strangers, the name of an establishment the trade of which came solely by connection based on personal respect."

  2. 2
    Of or relating to mercantilism. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    relating to or characteristic of trade or traders wordnet
  2. 2
    profit oriented wordnet
  3. 3
    of or relating to the economic system of mercantilism wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
businesscommercialcommercialeconomicindustrialmercenary

Example

More examples

"The growing power of the new mercantile aristocracy was beginning to displace the medieval nobility's control."

Etymology

Borrowed from French mercantile, from Italian mercantile, from mercante (“merchant”), from Latin mercāns (“trading”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.