dealer
Americannoun
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dealers
plural
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a person who buys and sells articles without altering their condition; trader or merchant, especially a wholesaler.
I got a dealer's discount on this coat.
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Cards. the player distributing the cards.
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a person who behaves or acts toward another or others in a specified manner.
a plain dealer.
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Slang. a person who buys and sells drugs illegally.
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a person who buys securities for their own account and retains them until sold to another.
noun
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a person or firm engaged in commercial purchase and sale; trader
a car dealer
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cards the person who distributes the cards
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slang a person who sells illegal drugs
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dealer
First recorded before 1000; Middle English delere, Old English dǣlere. See deal 1, -er 1
Explanation
Anyone whose job (or hobby) involves buying and reselling something is a dealer. If you buy candy in bulk and sell it to your friends at a profit, you can call yourself a candy dealer. Sometimes this term implies that the goods being sold are illegal or illicit. It's even more commonly used to describe people who sell art, cars, or antiques. If you play poker with your friends and it's your turn to hand out the cards, you're also a dealer. This meaning, a player who passes out the cards in a game, dates from 1600.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Treasury will release its primary dealer questionnaire for the November refunding at noon.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
But a gambler only has to beat the dealer.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
Citi upgraded Harley-Davidson to Buy, citing improving retail sales and dealer sentiment, with the returning Sportster offering another potential boost.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
“It’s real bad,” said Michael DiFeo, a New Jersey Cadillac dealer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
The dealer flipped it over with an alligator’s smile.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Primary dealers were left with just 2.5%, their smallest share since the financial crisis.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Indirect bidders, which include foreign institutions, took more than 80% of the issue, while primary dealers were left with just 2.5%.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
As a reporter for the Sunday World newspaper, he had built a reputation for stories which exposed paramilitaries and drug dealers operating in Northern Ireland.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Analysts said traders were presented with a "Goldilocks" batch of figures that provided a fillip to equities on Wall Street as the dealers revised lower the likelihood of a second successive interest rate hike.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
Everybody came out—hay farmers, clerks, merchants, fishermen, crabbers, carpenters, loggers, net weavers, truck farmers, junk dealers, real estate brigands, hack poets, ministers, lawyers, sailors, squatters, millwrights, cedar rats, teamsters, plumbers, mushroom foragers, and holly pruners.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
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