noun
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a person who engages in trade; dealer; merchant
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a vessel regularly employed in foreign or coastal trade
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stock exchange a member who operates mainly on his or her own account rather than for customers' accounts
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of trader
Explanation
A trader is a person who either buys goods and resells them, like a merchant who runs a store or a person who buys and sells stocks and bonds. The original meaning of trader was "one engaged in commerce," meaning someone who makes a living buying things and selling them at a profit. Originally, traders would literally trade goods for other goods, while today most of them trade goods for money. Financial traders work solely with money, buying and selling currency, stocks, bonds, and funds.
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.
Wilson, the trader, said he had run a clothing business in the South African city of Centurion in Gauteng province for several years.
From BBC • Jul. 1, 2026
That’s a product that only a day trader can love.
From Barron's • Jun. 24, 2026
One trader said that when he’d had a bad day in the market, he would sit in the chair for “inspiration.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2026
“I do like communication,” said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, adding that there was too little Fed communication in the 1980s, when he was a currency trader.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 21, 2026
Uncle Kufa was amazed that the trader wanted no payment for keeping Grandmother, but he was quick to take him up on the offer.
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.
