customer
Americannoun
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a person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron.
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Informal. a person one has to deal with.
a tough customer; a cool customer.
noun
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a person who buys
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informal a person with whom one has dealings
a cool customer
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of customer
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; custom + -er 1; compare Middle English customer “collector of customs,” from Anglo-French; Old French costumier, cognate with Medieval Latin custumārius; see customary
Explanation
A customer is anyone paying for a good or service. Without customers, businesses would go out of business. When you're paying for just about anything, you're a customer. People shopping at the grocery store, sitting in coffee shops, going to movies, and buying DVDs online are all customers. The point of advertising is to drum up new customers for a business. There's a cliché that "The customer is always right," which is obviously not true, but shows how businesses try to make customers happy. They'd better. Without customers, any business is in deep trouble.
Vocabulary lists containing customer
Business, List 1
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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Unit 17, Lesson 2
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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.
See Examples For:
Earlier this month, the company suffered its biggest share drop in history after it issued a profit warning citing a shift in customer spending from software to AI hardware and memory chips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
On the Shahnawaz Ranch’s website, it appears information about the pop-up restaurant has been removed and replaced with a form to collect customer contact information.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Analysts say the move could be seen as Samsung's effort to find an AI memory customer base beyond Nvidia, which has long relied on SK hynix for HBM.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
"The information involved is limited to customer service contact details relating to individuals and organisations. No other data has been accessed".
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Hence, there is an emotional tension between artist and audience that has no counterpart in the relationship of artisan and customer.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
Innolight is a key supplier to global customers such as Google and Nvidia, supported by its cost advantage and rapid product cycles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Local officials said the vessel was a "taxi" boat - vessels which cruise along the coast and pick up their paying customers who are waiting in the sea.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Khan declined to directly address the allegations but said customers had largely been involved in the slaughter of animals they either brought themselves or purchased from him, with some assistance from employees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
On this valuable Saturday-morning time slot a couple of weeks before the primary, we were in a small flower shop in a pedestrian-unfriendly area with few, if any, walk-in customers to meet and greet.
From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026
The boys filed into a line of customers waiting for a lift that would take them up through the lit branches of a banyan tree to the main entrance at the top of the building.
From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat
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.
