Meanings
plural Walmarts · alternative Wal-Mart
- trademarkA chain of large, discount department stores (most of which also sell groceries), originating in the United States and later spreading to several other countries.
It’s pretty obvious if you are a coffee drinker that Starbucks ain’t the Walmart of coffee.
2012, Scott McKain, Create Distinction: What to Do When "Great" Isn't Good Enough to Grow Your Business, page 602 more examples
In the 1990s, Barnes & Noble opened superstore after superstore across the United States. It become the Walmart of books, with the same attitude toward vendors.
2013, Gary Schwartz, Fast Shopper, Slow Store: A Guide to Courting and Capturing the Mobile Consumer, page 16Step into a Castle Megastore, and it’s clear they aim to be like a big box equivalent to a traditional sex shop — the Walmart of wang, if you will — no identity-concealing trench coat required.
2017 February 13, Will Kennedy, “The Walmart of Wang”, in Eugene Weekly, volume 39, number 7, page 13
present singular third person Walmarts · participle present Walmarting · participle past Walmarted · past Walmarted · alternative Wal-Mart
- intransitiveTo shop at Walmart.
You’ll need to choose a day and time slot for pickup — who would have thought we’d ever miss Walmarting on a whim? — so make sure you plan ahead.
2020 April 10, Shopping Siren, “Grab and go: If you need it, you can likely get it curbside”, in Sun Journal, page C22 more examples
Next we went Walmarting, where Shanti picked up more stuff for college, like sports bras in purple, white, and black and a hot water heater for dormitory tea parties.
2016, Janet L. Furst, Everyday Truth of a Rainbow Woman, Balboa Press, →ISBNShe and her best friend Earlene Pebworth, spent many happy days playing cards cards and bingo, as well as making the famous Christmas candy, gossiping, Walmarting and entertaining the Manor staff and residents with their antics.
2022 January 16, “Obituaries”, in Times Record News, volume 115, number 243, section “Sybol Ray Maze Brandon”, page 2A - transitiveTo outcompete, or drive out of business, by one's superior size and market share.
"Basically I've been Walmarted out of the business."
2013 July 5, “What they said - quotes from Chu, Morgenstern”, in SFGate5 more examples
Small farms make it difficult for the flu to spread, unlike in America where poultry majors have Walmarted individual farmers out of business.
2006, Outlook, page 150He wasn’t thinking, wasn’t competing. Walmarted into obscurity.
2009, Charlotte Hinger, chapter 30, in Deadly Descent, Poisoned Pen Press, page 168“Nature is taking care of itself. They wiped out so many mom-and-pop independent bookstores,” he [John King] said. “They Walmarted the cities and towns, and now they’re getting what they deserve. I hate to be that forward, but that’s the way I feel.”
2011 February 17, David Runk, “Bankruptcy worries Borders shoppers: Four Michigan stores to close, company says”, in The Times Herald, Port Huron, Mich., page 4ANorwegian is recruiting U.S. flight crews, and the giant lines have already Walmarted much of their offshore maintenance, reservations services, and such.
2014 July 27, Ed Perkins, “Transparent Airfares Act expected to come up for vote in U.S. House”, in Orlando Sentinel, page J9How liberating might this notion be today if the playing field weren’t Walmarted with too-big-to-fail megacorporations and oligopolies.
2015, John O’Kane, A People’s Manifesto, Society for Popular Democracy Books, page 24
Origin
The company name is likely an abbreviation for “Walton’s Mart”, after its founder, Sam Walton; Walton's choice of the name was inspired by the example of FedMart (more at Walmart § History on Wikipedia). The name was originally spelled Wal-Mart and later changed to Walmart.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Walmart. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Walmart
“Walmart.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Walmart. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Walmart,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Walmart.
Source: Walmart on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.