clientele
Americannoun
-
the clients or customers, as of a professional person or shop, considered collectively; a group or body of clients.
This jewelry store has a wealthy clientele.
-
dependents or followers.
noun
Etymology
Origin of clientele
1555–65; < Latin clientēla, equivalent to client- ( see client) + -ēla collective noun suffix; clientele ( def. 1 ) probably < French clientèle < Latin
Explanation
Your customers are your clientele. If you own a pet food store, your clientele might be two-footed and four-pawed. The noun clientele is often preceded by an adjective to describe the exact type of customer. Little boutiques in upscale neighborhoods probably cater to an exclusive clientele, while the kids' hair salon might have Barney on video to keep the young clientele motionless in their chairs. Regardless of business type, you are always trying to please the clientele.
Vocabulary lists containing clientele
Vocabulary from an excerpt from "Confessions of a 30-Year-Old Gamer," by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates
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Six of Crows
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The Help
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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.
Residents say they’re not opposed to the clientele or the bar’s legacy but rather the proximity to where people live, work and where children attend school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
The Big Tech types whose main value still stems from their consumer products, like Apple, have no choice but to wait behind the preferred clientele, and to price-gouge their own shrinking inventories in the meantime.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
On the song, she captures the club's electrifying clientele in a rap section that riffs on Vogue's roll-call of Hollywood legends.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Stuart had to paint humility and self-effacement when his favorite clientele laughed at his jokes, drank with him and enjoyed his raconteur flirtations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
“Got to keep up good references, moving around to different clientele like you do.”
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
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.
