vendor
Americannoun
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law a person who sells something, esp real property
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another name for vending machine
Usage
What is a vendor? A vendor is a person or business that sells something, as in The school lunch really improved after it changed food vendors. A vendor is also a machine that dispenses items after you put money into it. It’s more often called a vending machine. Example: The vendor told me that the box has a scratch, so she’s selling it cheap.
Etymology
Origin of vendor
1585–95; < Anglo-French vendo ( u ) r < Latin venditor. See vend, -or 2
Explanation
If you are a vendor, it means you’re a person selling something, whether it’s hot dogs from a food cart or computer software for a tech company. The word vendor comes from the Latin word vendere, meaning “to sell.” Vendor is a name for people who sell things on the street, such as a hot dog vendor, but it can describe those who sell any kind of goods or services, especially a specialized product. A store at the mall isn't usually called a vendor, but you could use the word to describe the person or group that supplies the store with special products or services.
Vocabulary lists containing vendor
100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"
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The Lemonade War
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The Color of My Words
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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.
External link Nov. 14: Vendor financing, a key factor in the formation and collapse of the dot-com bubble, has declined significantly.
From Barron's • Nov. 15, 2025
Mohamed Attia, the managing director of the Street Vendor Project, an advocacy group, said the changes would be transformative.
From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2024
Yes, Ma!’s model remains fairly unusual: Vendor Yes Segura of Smash the Box, who sells Seattle neighborhood map art, said he’s only ever heard of two other markets in the area that pay their vendors.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 11, 2023
Late last year, I told you in a column how vendors gathered in the Wilson Building and sang “The Street Vendor Song.”
From Washington Post • Apr. 5, 2023
Mr. Clyde stuck the fork in Vendor Reilly’s muffler and ordered him out of the garage, threatening him with dismissal if he didn’t show up early to begin working the French Quarter.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
