grocer

American  

[groh-ser] / ˈgroʊ sər /

noun

• grocers
  plural

1. the owner or operator of a store that sells general food supplies and certain nonedible articles of household use, as soaps and paper products.

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grocer British  

/ ˈɡrəʊsə /

noun

1. a dealer in foodstuffs and other household supplies

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• grocers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of grocer

1325–75; Middle English < Old French gross ( i ) er wholesale merchant. See gross, -er ²

Explanation

Someone who sells food in a supermarket or convenience store is a grocer. If you can't find your favorite kind of cereal on the shelf, you should ask the grocer to help you. The owner or manager of a grocery store is a grocer. This word once meant "one who buys and sells in gross," or in large quantities, from the Anglo-French grosser. By the 16th century, grocer also meant "merchant selling food," but earlier that person would've been called a spicer. Your neighborhood grocer might sell fresh produce from local farmers, unlike that big box supermarket out by the mall.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grocer grocers

Hyper upscale grocer Erewhon at the center will reopen in January.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026

The bargain grocer is closing under-performing locations, including in San Diego and Orange counties.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

Today, Aldi is the UK's fourth biggest grocer, commanding 10.8% of the market.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

Walmart is America’s largest grocer and was ranked the nation’s top retailer by the National Retail Federation, with U.S. retail sales of $576 billion last year.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

I looked forward to the bill paying because the grocer sometimes rewarded Conrad and me with Sugar Daddy suckers after the grown-ups handed over the money.

From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals

The ready-to-use food products that Taylor Farms recalled over the weekend had been sold at Trader Joe’s, Walmart and Target, among other grocers across the nation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

Incumbent US grocers may look with some concern at the insurgency Aldi pulled off since it entered the UK market in the 1990s.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

The traditional "big four" grocers at the time - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - were slow to respond to the new competition, leaving the challengers to gradually pick off their shoppers.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

But five grocers are already within a two-block radius of that proposed Harlem store, with 10 more within five blocks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026

Along its dirt-swept streets, grocers stood posted beside stalls of fresh fruit, haggling down their final sales as shops prepared to close.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray