clientelecli‧en‧tele /ˌkliːənˈtel $ ˌklaɪənˈtel, ˌkliː-/ noun [singular] 
Word Origin
The restaurant attracts a young clientele.► see thesaurus at customer
Word OriginWORD ORIGINclientele
ExamplesOrigin:
1500-1600 French clientèle, from Latin clientela, from cliens; ➔ CLIENTEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- Madame Zara caters for a very select clientele.
- The Border Bar attracts a young clientele.
- The hotel's clientele includes diplomats and Hollywood celebrities.
- A few yards way on the nearest path, another tour bus stopped and unleashed its clientele.
- Administrators at the hospital conceded that they had limited outings as they sought to learn about their clientele.
- And a new kind of restaurant had sprung up with expensive menus and a young, confident clientele.
- Butler and Patterson will then manage a team of 70 staff for a clientele of 1,500.
- Since those heady days the bar and its clientele have undergone a transformation.
- Such high design can be lost even on discriminating clientele.
- The clientele ranges from young revellers to local residents, culture vultures to sober-suited lawyers reluctant to go home.
THESAURUS► customer
Collocations someone who buys goods or services from a shop or company: · Customers were waiting for the shop to open.· The bank is one of our biggest customers.
► client someone who pays for a service from a professional person or company: · He has a meeting with one of his clients.· The company buys and sells shares on behalf of their clients
► shopper someone who goes to the shops looking for things to buy: · The streets were full of Christmas shoppers.
► guest someone who pays to stay in a hotel: · Guests must leave their rooms by 10 am.
► patron formal a customer of a particular shop, restaurant, or hotel – usually written on signs: · The notice said ‘Parking for Patrons Only’.
► patient someone who is getting medical treatment from a doctor, or in a hospital: · He is a patient of Dr Williams.
► consumer anyone who buys goods or uses services – used when considering these people as a group who have particular rights, needs, or behaviour: · Consumers are demanding more environmentally-friendly products.· the rights of the consumer· The law is designed to protect consumers who buy goods on the Internet.
► market the number of people who want to buy a product, or the type of people who want to buy it: · The market for organic food is growing all the time.· a magazine aimed at the youth market
► clientele formal the type of customers that a particular shop, restaurant etc gets: · The hotel has a very upmarket clientele.· They have a wealthy international clientele.
Longman Language Activatorsomeone who buys goods or services► customer someone who buys goods from a particular shop, restaurant, or company: · We don't get many customers on Mondays - Saturday is our busiest day.· The barman was serving the last customer of the evening.· Ford has launched a big sales campaign in an effort to bring in new customers.biggest customer (=the customer who buys the most goods): · The Defense Department is one of Lockheed's biggest regular customers.
► shoppers the people in a shop or town who are buying things: · The streets were crowded with Christmas shoppers.
► client someone who pays for services or advice from a professional person or organization: · Mr Langston normally meets with clients in the afternoon.· Elkins assured the judge that neither of his clients had a criminal record.· The firm is one of our oldest clients - we don't want to lose them.
► buyer someone who buys something expensive such as a house, company, or painting, usually from another person, not a shop or company: · We couldn't find a buyer for our house, so we weren't able to move after all.· They've had a lot of enquiries about the company - there's no shortage of potential buyers.
► consumers someone who buys and uses goods and services - use this especially to talk about people who buy things in general: · Consumers are demanding more environmentally friendly products.· The consumer is interested in high quality goods, not just low prices.
► clientele the people who regularly use a particular shop, restaurant etc, or the services of a professional person: · The hotel's clientele includes diplomats and Hollywood celebrities.· Madame Zara caters for a very select clientele.
► market the number of people who want to buy a product, or the type of people who want to buy it: · The magazine is aimed at the youth market.· Without research we can't be sure of the size of our market or even who our market is.market for: · The market for Internet-based products has grown dramatically in recent years.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB► build
all the people who regularly use a shop, restaurant etc: · Sharelink has built up a clientele of about 57,000 in two years.
The restaurant attracts a young clientele.► see thesaurus at customer