customer
noun
cus·tom·er ˈkə-stə-mər 
1
: one that purchases a commodity or service
The customer used a credit card for the purchase.
2
: an individual usually having some specified distinctive trait
a real tough customer
… let me give you the advice of an old and world-weary customer.
Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O'Connor
Synonyms
- account
- client
- guest
- patron
- punter [chiefly British]
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
She is one of our best customers. She's a pretty cool customer.
Recent Examples on the Web One customer said she was saved by another shopper. Andrea Vacchiano, Fox News, 16 Sep. 2022 Hans Vestberg said there had been a pickup in customer churn, or cancellations, after a recent price increase. Esther Fung, WSJ, 16 Sep. 2022 Level pay is open to any DWP customer with a residential account. Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2022 One is always free to speak to management, a principle Miss Manners upholds even if the explosion of online customer reviews has tested its limits. Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2022 Our selection includes animatronics with average customer ratings of four stars or higher. Kevin Cortez, Popular Mechanics, 15 Sep. 2022 Reiss said the bank has beefed up staff in branches to help customers with the transition; worked on reducing wait times on customer service lines and reached out to customers to activate cards and accounts. Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 15 Sep. 2022 The third issue concerns Google's revenue-sharing agreements, which give manufacturers adhering to all these rules a share of the Google search and Google ad revenue that a customer generates. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 14 Sep. 2022 In the second quarter, Peacock’s paid customer based was flat at 13 million and Peacock’s overall monthly active accounts dropped by 1 million, to 27 million. Todd Spangler, Variety, 14 Sep. 2022 See More
Andrea Vacchiano, Fox News, 16 Sep. 2022 Hans Vestberg said there had been a pickup in customer churn, or cancellations, after a recent price increase. Esther Fung, WSJ, 16 Sep. 2022 Level pay is open to any DWP customer with a residential account. Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2022 One is always free to speak to management, a principle Miss Manners upholds even if the explosion of online customer reviews has tested its limits. Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2022 Our selection includes animatronics with average customer ratings of four stars or higher. Kevin Cortez, Popular Mechanics, 15 Sep. 2022 Reiss said the bank has beefed up staff in branches to help customers with the transition; worked on reducing wait times on customer service lines and reached out to customers to activate cards and accounts. Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 15 Sep. 2022 The third issue concerns Google's revenue-sharing agreements, which give manufacturers adhering to all these rules a share of the Google search and Google ad revenue that a customer generates. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 14 Sep. 2022 In the second quarter, Peacock’s paid customer based was flat at 13 million and Peacock’s overall monthly active accounts dropped by 1 million, to 27 million. Todd Spangler, Variety, 14 Sep. 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle English custumer, from custume — see custom entry 1
First Known Use
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing customer
Kids Definition
customer
noun
cus·tom·er ˈkə-stə-mər
: a person who buys from or uses the services of a company especially regularly
Legal Definition
customer
noun
cus·to·mer
1
: a person or business that purchases a commodity or service
2
a
: a person or entity having an account with a bank or on whose behalf the bank has agreed to collect items
b
: a person or entity for whom an issuer issues a letter of credit
customer
noun
1
as in client
a person who buys a product or uses a service from a business the store greatly values its regular customers Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- client
- patron
- guest
- user
- buyer
- consumer
- purchaser
- punter
- account
- shopper
- end user
- prospect
- vendee
- correspondent
- browser
- regular
- window-shopper
- bargainer
- haggler
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- vendor
- merchant
- seller
- broker
- vender
- shopkeeper
- tradesman
- fence
- black marketeer
- black marketer
2
as in person
a member of the human race he's one tough customer, so you'd better not cross him Synonyms & Similar Words
- person
- guy
- man
- life
- individual
- human
- creature
- bird
- being
- thing
- soul
- baby
- party
- body
- cookie
- personality
- fish
- scout
- character
- sort
- human being
- specimen
- duck
- mortal
- personage
- fellow
- egg
- face
- bod
- devil
- wight
- neighbor
- stiff
- son of man
- somebody
- brother
- self
- cooky
- slob
- head
- celebrity
- homo
- hominid
- humanoid
- fellowman
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- animal
- beast
- brute
- critter
- beastie