Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that consumes, especially one that acquires goods or services for direct use or ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing.
- n. A heterotrophic organism that ingests other organisms or organic matter in a food chain.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who consumes, destroys, wastes, or spends; that which consumes.
- n. Specifically, in polit, econ., one who destroys the exchangeable value of a commodity by using it: the opposite of producer.
Wiktionary
- n. One who, or that which, consumes.
- n. someone who trades money for goods as an individual.
- n. an organism that uses other organisms for food in order to gain energy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who, or that which, consumes.
- n. the person or organization that uses some item of commerce or service in its own acitities, as opposed to reselling the item or including it as part of another item for resale; -- called also the
end user .
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person who uses goods or services
Examples
“The term consumer makes you into nothing more than a machine that devours goods and services.”
“Last Week's Challenge: From Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website MathPuzzle.com: Take the phrase "consumer protection laws," and rearrange the letters to name a person in broadcasting and an issue of public debate.”
“So with that, I think the term "consumer" is appropriate.”
“Every time I hear the word consumer instead of patient, an angel dies.”
“My problem with the term "consumer" is the same one that”
“I often use MUIs in the business environment, and not having access to them as a consumer is an annoyance.”
Windows 7 Ultimate Edition Not Geared At Home Users | Lifehacker Australia
“But the consumer is the one making the choice, right?”
“Strict: But the consumer is the one making the choice, right?”
“When it come to prepared ready to eat foods with high salt content (i.e. not cupcakes), the consumer is always free to adjust the salt content upwards to his liking.”
“The idea that financial institutions are responsible entities, capable of adequately managing risk to maximize payoff without undue harm to the consumer is a complete joke.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘consumer’.
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Academic Vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3092 more...
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Keywords, by Raymond Williams
From a book about life and death.
aesthetic, alienation, art, behaviour, bourgeois, bureaucracy, capitalism, career, charity, city, civilization, class and 99 more...
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Lingering Irritation
Intensely disliked words from (a) grad program(s) in social sciences. At first they sound tricky and important. Take note! "Modeling is an important aspect in education. Eschew obfuscation."
...zeitgeist, praxis, cathexis, dissertation, reflexive, reflective, empathetic, empathic, paucity, diversity, intervention, efficacy and 23 more...
vermontster How the hell did "consumer" become an advocacy term for people using mental health services?? Does that mean I was a producer? How is that empowering for anyone? Quick! Buy more! -- Save the economy, buy a Hummer (or whatever it is I want to attribute to Bush.) Jun 28, 2008