customer
Americannoun
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a person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron.
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Informal. a person one has to deal with.
a tough customer; a cool customer.
noun
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a person who buys
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informal a person with whom one has dealings
a cool customer
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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
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.
Vocabulary lists containing customer
Business, List 1
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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Unit 17, Lesson 2
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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:
You are also a new customer, and the bank is under no obligation to take a risk on your creditworthiness without having its own experience of you as a customer.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
In its initial disclosure of the hack on 16 July, external, Hugging Face said it was still assessing whether any customer or partner data was affected and would contact affected parties if necessary.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
It was notable as the first investment-grade-rated loan facility backed by high-performance computing assets such as GPUs, as well as a customer contract.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
I can’t imagine what benefit her customer was getting out of the experience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The clerk was helping another customer when I entered.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
The average rate for customers who were prepared to lock their money away for a year was 4.27%.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
The company reported 432,000 postpaid phone net additions for the second quarter, with the figure tracking customers who pay for phone service after each cycle is complete.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Offering a more premium card is a chance for the company to grow alongside its customers, who tend to be younger.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
In order for customers to receive a payout, they must have enrolled in and paid for at least one renewal term of a YouTube TV subscription between Feb. 1, 2017, and Oct.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Ambuya glared at the shake-shake customers, and they nervously looked away.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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.
