end user

American  

Or end-user

noun

1. the ultimate user for whom a machine, as a computer, or product, as a computer program, is designed.

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end user British  

noun

1. 1. (in international trading) the person, organization, or nation that will be the ultimate recipient of goods, esp such as arms or advanced technology

   2. ( as modifier )

      an end-user certificate

2. computing the ultimate destination, such as a program or operator, of information that is being transferred within a system

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Etymology

Origin of end user

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

end user

“You know, we’ve been open about 3.5 years, and we have yet to have a single end user come through and say, ‘That didn’t help me at all,” Matejka concludes.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026

Signal's end-to-end encryption means that any sent message travels in a scrambled form and can only be deciphered by the end user.

From Barron's ● Apr. 25, 2026

Oracle has signed a 15-year lease on the centers but the end user will be OpenAI, which has signed a $300 billion purchase agreement with Oracle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025

“If an email is unsolicited, the end user should always question the identity of the emails being sent,” Manky said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2025

For example, an author could give away the right to suppress unauthorized copies just so long as the end user agreed not to create a commercial offshoot.

From Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software by Sam Williams