Commerce

n. (Formerly accented on the second syllable.) [Fr. commerce, It. & Pg. commercio, Sp. comercio, Lat. commercium, from com and merx, mercis, merchandise, whence mercari, to trade.]

1Sense 1. The exchange of merchandise on a large scale between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.

The public becomes powerful in proportion to the opulence and extensive commerce of private men. Hume.

2Sense 2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one class in society with another; familiarity.

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

3Sense 3. The carnal intercourse of the sexes. Mountague.

4Sense 4. A game at cards, in which a kind of barter or trade forms part. Hoyle.

Synonyms—Trade; traffic; dealing; intercourse; interchange; communion; communication.