salesman

[seylz-muhn]

noun

plural

salesmen 

1. a man who sells goods, services, etc.

salesman

/ ˈseɪlzmən /

noun

1. Gender-neutral form: salesperson. Also called: saleswoman.  salesgirl.  saleslady. a person who sells merchandise or services either in a shop or by canvassing in a designated area

2. short for travelling salesman

Gender Note

See -man.

Word History and Origins

Origin of salesman¹

First recorded in 1515–25; sales + -man

Example Sentences

Or be a salesman to understand Jack Lemmon’s desperate drive in “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

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His father was a watch salesman who moved the family to Los Angeles when Stein was young.

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One is her father, an industrial salesman who she has said was once fired after speaking up about his faith on the job.

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Ads for factory hands, salesmen and machinists took off, while old jobs, like nailers, faded into distant memories.

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Xerox created a new, better machine only to have it sell less well than the inferior older ones—until they figured out the salesmen got a bigger commission for selling the older one.

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Related Words

• agent 
• clerk 
• dealer 
• marketer www.thesaurus.com
• merchant 
• peddler 
• retailer www.thesaurus.com
• salesperson 
• saleswoman 
• shopkeeper 
• trader 
• vendor 

When To Use

What does salesman mean?

A salesman is a man whose job is to sell products or services.The plural of salesman is salesmen. The equivalent term for a woman is saleswoman. Both terms are still commonly used, but salesperson and sales rep (or sales representative) are often used in their place.A salesman is often said to “work in sales”—in which sales refers to the type of occupation or the division or department within a company.A salesman can sell directly to customers or to other businesses or organizations. Sometimes, salesmen sell things in person, such as at a retail store or dealership. They also commonly sell things over the phone or by communicating with people online. In the past, it was common for some salesmen to travel door-to-door to make sales to people at home, leading to the term door-to-door salesman.A salesman who has to travel as part of his job can be called a traveling salesman.The word salesman is sometimes used in a somewhat figurative way to refer to someone who’s skilled at persuading people, especially in a business or professional setting, as if they are selling them a product. This skill or quality can be called salesmanship.Example: The salesman told me that this was the best deal he could give me.