saleswoman
Americannoun
-
saleswomen
plural
Usage
What does saleswoman mean? A saleswoman is a woman whose job is to sell products or services. The plural of saleswoman is saleswomen. A less common term for saleswoman is saleslady. The equivalent term for a man is salesman. Both salesman and saleswoman are commonly used, but salesperson and sales rep (or sales representative) are often used in their place. A saleswoman 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 saleswoman can sell directly to customers or to other businesses or organizations. Sometimes, saleswomen 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 salespeople to travel door-to-door to make sales to people at home, leading to the term door-to-door salesman and, less commonly, door-to-door saleswoman. A saleswoman who has to travel as part of her job can be called a traveling saleswoman. The word saleswoman is sometimes used in a somewhat figurative way to refer to a woman 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 saleswomanship, but the term salesmanship is much more common and is often applied regardless of gender. Example: The saleswoman told me that this was the best deal she could give me.
Gender
See -woman.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of saleswoman
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:
One estate saleswoman told my wife and me that the items we won’t take with us are worth under $6,000 total, so she’d pass on an estate sale.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
"We were sleeping on a mat outside the church last night," said Tran Le Tap, a 65-year-old saleswoman who travelled from the southern province of An Giang.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
She spends weekends as a saleswoman in the Coche Market, offering her services at various food stands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026
Song Tianying, a 20-year-old cellphone saleswoman in Beijing, earns around $1,000 a month and saves about $400 of it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026
He seemed to be lingering, waiting, along with the saleswoman, for her to say something.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Suzanne: One reason Aritzia can staff its stores with attentive saleswomen is that its prices are slightly higher than those of typical mall chains.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
That included working as semi-skilled operatives, teachers and saleswomen — just to name a few common occupations at the time.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2023
Similar benefits accrued to long-term hotel guests further down the income ladder, whether they were unmarried clerks and saleswomen or sailors and transient workers just passing through.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2022
Then some of those ladies complained about being harassed by pesky real estate saleswomen.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2022
A group of girls were standing about May’s table, admiring the pretty things, and talking over the change of saleswomen.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
