emptor

[ emp-ter, -tawr ]

/ ˈɛmp tər, -tɔr /

Save This Word!

(especially in legal usage) a person who purchases or contracts to purchase; buyer.

QUIZZES

Apostrophes can be tricky; prove you know the difference between it’s and its in this crafty quiz!

Question 1 of 12

On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.

1870–75; <Latin: buyer, equivalent to em(ere) to buy + -tor-tor, with intrusive -p-

Caveat emptor, this list could go on for another dozen easily.
Lucas Wittmann: Salman Rushdie’s Memoir & Other Favorite Books of 2012|Lucas Wittmann|December 6, 2012|DAILY BEAST
They would have to push on still further westward if they wished to find good land ready for the pre-emptor.
The Boy Settlers|Noah Brooks
Meanwhile you trust at your peril, caveat emptor, your eyes are your market, or words to similar effect.
The Cab of the Sleeping Horse|John Reed Scott
Selling the suspicion wronged nobody—he would give no warranty with it—Caveat emptor.
Sophy of Kravonia|Anthony Hope

When he comes home, he's a harmless settlement loafer, or an industrious pre-emptor.
By Right of Purchase|Harold Bindloss
Caveat emptor becomes discredited as an unmodified basis of human action.
Creating Capital|Frederick L. Lipman