noun · neutral

commodity

UK/kəˈmɒdəti/US/kəˈmɑːdəti/com·MOD·i·ty

Band 5-6task2speaking

a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, or a basic good used in commerce

Examples

Water is becoming an increasingly valuable commodity in many regions.

The price of commodities like oil and wheat rose sharply.

You can use 'commodity' in Task 2 when discussing resources and trade.

Band 8 sentence

Freshwater scarcity is turning clean water into a scarce and politically sensitive commodity.

Collocations

  • valuable commodity
  • commodity prices
  • essential commodity

Word family

commodities noun (plural)

Common mistakes

translate directly as 'commodity' for any product: "This commodity is cheap"use 'product' or 'item' if not a market-traded good

forget plural when cần: "many commodity""many commodities"

Say it for a higher band

5product6goods7+commodity

Synonyms

goods

product

Easily confused

product

The factory exported thousands of products last year.

goods

The goods were shipped to the neighbouring country.

Related words

Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.

In Sublist 10

Learn it with its set