vendor
Americannoun
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law a person who sells something, esp real property
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another name for vending machine
Usage
What is a vendor? A vendor is a person or business that sells something, as in The school lunch really improved after it changed food vendors. A vendor is also a machine that dispenses items after you put money into it. It’s more often called a vending machine. Example: The vendor told me that the box has a scratch, so she’s selling it cheap.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of vendor
1585–95; < Anglo-French vendo ( u ) r < Latin venditor. See vend, -or 2
Explanation
If you are a vendor, it means you’re a person selling something, whether it’s hot dogs from a food cart or computer software for a tech company. The word vendor comes from the Latin word vendere, meaning “to sell.” Vendor is a name for people who sell things on the street, such as a hot dog vendor, but it can describe those who sell any kind of goods or services, especially a specialized product. A store at the mall isn't usually called a vendor, but you could use the word to describe the person or group that supplies the store with special products or services.
Vocabulary lists containing vendor
100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"
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The Lemonade War
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The Color of My Words
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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:
Not a single vendor I spoke to expressed any enmity toward Latinos, or even Gallardo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
In the sweltering heat, fellow fish vendor Faraba Fatty stated bluntly that "without electricity, we have a very bad life".
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Meanwhile, another vendor, Innovaccer, raised concerns about the pilot program’s launch, citing CMS’s changing requirements and expectations, unclear governance processes and the lack of time provided for end-to-end testing with the medical community.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
"We are working with our vendor to correct the issue as quickly as possible and restore the proper geographic reference," the company said in its statement.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Loung asked so many questions that the vendor had to move his cart away from her.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
On Sunday, just outside the fenced-off green space, street vendors were selling everything from African fabrics to soap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
The cost of ice has more than doubled, Darboe-Manneh told AFP, since the ice vendors -- who often make it in home freezers -- do not have electricity.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Like Materne, Gallo said in a Sunday note that he expects identity-security vendors to be among the first beneficiaries of inflecting agentic security efforts given “visibly healthy demand” and growing adoption of AI agents.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
On sidewalks, black vendors selling hot corn called out to passersby.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Knowing they have customers clinging to The Beast, suddenly vendors burst forth from nowhere, selling tortas, cacahuates, chips, bottled water, Coca-Colas, diapers, soap, you name it.
From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads
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.
