Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To convert (an asset) into cash, as by selling the asset or using it as security for a loan.
  • transitive verb To convert into a source of income.
  • transitive verb To express or render in terms of money.
  • transitive verb To purchase (government debt) in the open market using central bank funds, leading to an expansion of the money supply.
  • transitive verb To establish (a metal) as a currency, especially by minting coins.
  • transitive verb To convert (an economy or sector) from a system of barter to one based on the exchange of money.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To give the character of money to; legalize as money; coin into money.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To convert into money; to adopt as current money.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To convert something (especially a security) into currency
  • verb To mint money
  • verb To establish a currency as legal tender
  • verb To make a business activity profit-generating, particularly in computer and internet-related activities.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb give legal value to or establish as the legal tender of a country

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin monēta, money; see money.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word monetize.

Examples

  • One way Boxee will monetize is they will revenue share with services that they officially integrate and they do this with Joost who gave the Boxee developers full access to their APIs and have a partnership with them.

    Why Does Everyone Heart Boxee? 2009

  • The public domain, on principle, pisses them off, because it’s use of “content” that they can’t monetize, and make no mistake, the ability to monetize is what every step of their bullshit is about.

    The Pirate Bay decision means … nothing 2009

  • Umair (who also blogs as a discussion leader at Harvard Business Online) loathes the term monetize, he said, because you have to * create* value before you can capitalise on it; you have to have a purpose before you can profit from it.

    May « 2008 « Innovation Cloud 2008

  • Umair (who also blogs as a discussion leader at Harvard Business Online) loathes the term monetize, he said, because you have to * create* value before you can capitalise on it; you have to have a purpose before you can profit from it.

    Alchemy in the micro media maze « Innovation Cloud 2008

  • "The best way to monetize is to make stuff that people can't live without," McKean said.

    Smartwords aims to make readers smarter Daniel Terdiman 2010

  • "The best way to monetize is to make stuff that people can't live without," McKean said.

    Smartwords aims to make readers smarter 2010

  • Worse yet, often the only real way to monetize is to take a teensy percentage of an already low-priced track.

    ProgrammableWeb 2009

  • How much 'figuring' was there to "monetize" Interstate freeways (by rich folks)?

    Buying himself out (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • Facebook then attempts to "monetize" one's data by selling it to advertisers that want to send targeted messages.

    The High Price of Facebook 2010

  • By late 2008, YouTube's attempts to "monetize" its vast streams of amateur videos had hit choppy water.

    Dan Schiller: Is YouTube the Successor to Television -- Or to LIFE Magazine? 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • It is an economics term, but relates to placing a monetary value on something that isn't market-traded, such as the value of avoiding an illness.

    December 8, 2006

  • Yuck. I hate it almost as much as 'incentivize'.

    June 11, 2009