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

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

“The next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user, moving from foundational models to inference to agentic,” said Lip-Bu Tan, Intel’s chief executive, in a statement.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

Another point he made, on a post-earnings-report conference call with analysts, is that software will actually be a big end user of AI.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 26, 2026

“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 Williams, Sam