trademark

• trade mark

trade +‎ mark

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹeɪdmɑː(ɹ)k/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

trademark (not comparable)

1. (informal) distinctive, characteristic, signature
   • 1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 294:

     Sutho took a pull at his Johnny Walker and Coke and laughed that trademark laugh of his and said: `Okay. I'll pay that all right.'

   • 2011 October 15, Owen Phillips, “Stoke 2 - 0 Fulham”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Riise did crash a fantastic, trademark free-kick against the bar from 25 yards but it was the Potters who increasingly posed the greater threat.

trademark (plural trademarks)

1. A word, symbol, or phrase used to identify a particular company's product and differentiate it from other companies' products.
2. Any proprietary business, product or service name.
   • 2005, Kai A. Olsen, The Internet, the Web, and eBusiness, page xv:

     Trademark Notice / The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies: […] Google is a trademark of Google Corporation; eBay is a trademark of eBay, Inc.

3. The aspect for which someone or something is best known; a hallmark or typical characteristic.

• registered trademark
• service mark
• wordmark

• brand

trademark (third-person singular simple present trademarks, present participle trademarking, simple past and past participle trademarked)

1. To register something as a trademark.
2. To so label a product.

Among practitioners of trademark law, it is generally considered incorrect to use “trademark” as a verb; the preferred terminology would be to use a trademark or to register a trademark.