1. the process by which goods, information, labor, services, business, finance, natural resources, and cultural products move transnationally. Globalization is usually considered a defining characteristic of the contemporary world.

2. the integration of regional economies, societies, and cultures into a global network of ideas as a result of advances in communication, trade, and transportation. The process of globalization has set in motion the gradual disappearance of traditional boundaries between individual societies and those in different parts of the world. See cultural ergonomics. —globalize vb.