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.
Etymology
Origin of vendor
1585–95; < Anglo-French vendo ( u ) r < Latin venditor. See vend, -or 2
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.
The schedule promoted a free glam bar, which wasn’t staffed for most of the weekend, said Brielle Cenci, a vendor who paid several thousand dollars to have a booth.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
“Microsoft is really the only vendor that has a massive application business and is a massive hyperscaler,” Moerdler told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 30, 2026
One vendor sold t-shirts with captions proclaiming “LEGEND” alternatively accompanying pictures of Charlie Kirk or, for some reason, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts together in costume from The Andy Griffith Show.
From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026
The occasion was the 100th anniversary of Bell Labs, the legendary research-and-development organization that was once the innovation engine within the old AT&T and is now part of Nokia, the Finland-based telecommunications vendor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026
We were still standing right next to the fruit vendor, which was getting more crowded by the second, so Mom and I moved out of the way.
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
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.
