customer

American  

[kuhs-tuh-mer] / ˈkʌs tə mər /

noun

• customers
  plural

1. a person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron.

2. Informal. a person one has to deal with.

   a tough customer; a cool customer.

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customer British  

/ ˈkʌstəmə /

noun

1. a person who buys

2. informal a person with whom one has dealings

   a cool customer

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customer Idioms  

1. see ugly customer.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• customers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of customer

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; custom + -er ¹; compare Middle English customer “collector of customs,” from Anglo-French; Old French costumier, cognate with Medieval Latin custumārius; see customary

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Explanation

A customer is anyone paying for a good or service. Without customers, businesses would go out of business. When you're paying for just about anything, you're a customer. People shopping at the grocery store, sitting in coffee shops, going to movies, and buying DVDs online are all customers. The point of advertising is to drum up new customers for a business. There's a cliché that "The customer is always right," which is obviously not true, but shows how businesses try to make customers happy. They'd better. Without customers, any business is in deep trouble.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

customer customers

From an end market perspective, the company’s national security business grew 1% from a year ago, reflecting strong customer demand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

"It is the right thing to do and what customers want. It is driven by customer demand as well as moral responsibility."

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

If funding becomes more expensive or a customer delays expansion, the effects can travel through the project.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

The Philadelphia-based company is trying to stem customer losses and streamline before it spins off NBCUniversal next year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Not a customer, I corrected myself, a nuisance—I knew the woman.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

It still maintains its reputation as a discreet meeting place, allowing customers to live and let dine.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

That is what happened as stores and their customers decamped to the car-oriented suburbs and demand for retail deliveries shrank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

And beachgoers now bring packed lunches instead of stopping at Captain Bob’s Chowder Sisters, said Melissa Huddleston, waiting for customers at her sister-in-law’s shop on Sunday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

The biggest AI companies have shown that “they’re basically willing to spend as much as they can in order to capture more customers and try and be the dominant AI player,” Rocco told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026

“We could remind everyone to support small businesses. As long as customers keep shopping in town, then Hope Springs has a chance to compete against SmartMart.”

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry

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Related Words

• client
• consumer
• patron
• purchaser

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