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.
The 24-year-old and joined the King's Trust Get into Customer Services in Rail programme in 2025.
From BBC • Jun. 7, 2026
“We also saw strong progress across new AI monetization streams and Zoom Customer Experience, which continued to see accelerating high double-digit growth,” Yuan said.
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
In this case, a bag of lemons costs $3.99, and, though Customer A and B are both loyalty program members, only Customer B is given a $1 off coupon.
From Salon • May 18, 2026
“Gold’s trajectory will remain closely tied to the developments in the Middle East and their impact on energy markets and inflation expectations,” says Konstantinos Chrysikos, head of Customer Relationship Management at Kudotrade, in an email.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
The policy at corporate was the Customer Is Always Right, though the customer was not usually the resident but the relatives who controlled the purse strings.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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.
