dealer
Americannoun
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a person who buys and sells articles without altering their condition; trader or merchant, especially a wholesaler.
I got a dealer's discount on this coat.
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Cards. the player distributing the cards.
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a person who behaves or acts toward another or others in a specified manner.
a plain dealer.
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Slang. a person who buys and sells drugs illegally.
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a person who buys securities for their own account and retains them until sold to another.
noun
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a person or firm engaged in commercial purchase and sale; trader
a car dealer
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cards the person who distributes the cards
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slang a person who sells illegal drugs
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dealer
First recorded before 1000; Middle English delere, Old English dǣlere. See deal 1, -er 1
Explanation
Anyone whose job (or hobby) involves buying and reselling something is a dealer. If you buy candy in bulk and sell it to your friends at a profit, you can call yourself a candy dealer. Sometimes this term implies that the goods being sold are illegal or illicit. It's even more commonly used to describe people who sell art, cars, or antiques. If you play poker with your friends and it's your turn to hand out the cards, you're also a dealer. This meaning, a player who passes out the cards in a game, dates from 1600.
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.
See Examples For:
“Our second-quarter performance reflects strength in our domestic retail business, continued focus on healthy dealer inventory levels and the exceptional commitment of our dealer network,” Chief Executive Artie Starrs said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Art dealer and presenter Philip Mould said: "What a wonderful result, I'm sure we're going to see more works by this pioneering woman artist in India coming out of the woodwork."
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“If you’re a car dealer, you could be doing it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
He is said to have "raked in £270,000 for doing just 12 hours' work as a brand ambassador for a gold bullion dealer".
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
The dealer laid out another three cards, each one heavily creased.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Historically, North Korean diplomats and trade representatives stationed abroad have acted as de facto arms dealers and intelligence couriers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Jamie Dimon — long considered a potential candidate to be treasury secretary, and the person in charge of one of the nation’s primary dealers of Treasury securities — says he wouldn’t buy American debt.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
What’s more, many dealers remain baffled that Polestar wasn’t able to obtain the OK to keep selling in the U.S. when Volvo was.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
“A small number of dealers account for the bulk of repo lending to leveraged hedge funds,” the Bank for International Settlements recently noted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Tailors, leather workers, cobblers, tanners, weavers, spice dealers, peddlers, merchants, silversmiths, goldsmiths—a whole wonderful community that lived and worked together and flourished—are being forced to leave.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
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.
