consumer

consumer (kənˈsjuːmə)

—n
1.	Compare producer a person who acquires goods and services for his or her own personal needs
2.	a person or thing that consumes
3.	(usually plural) ecology decomposer See also producer an organism, esp an animal, within a community that feeds upon plants or other animals

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

consumer

1530s, "one who squanders or wastes," agent noun from consume. In economic sense, "one who uses up goods or articles" (opposite of producer) from 1745. Consumer goods is attested from 1890. In U.S., consumer price index calculated since 1919, tracking "changes in the prices

paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services" [Bureau of Labor Statistics]; abbreviation CPI is attested by 1971.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

consumer

(kən-s

'mər) Pronunciation Key
A heterotrophic organism that feeds on other organisms in a food chain. ◇ Herbivores that feed on green plants and detritivores that feed on decaying matter are called primary consumers. Carnivores that feed on herbivores or detritivores are called secondary consumers, while those that feed on other carnivores are called tertiary consumers. Compare producer.

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

consumer definition

Someone who purchases a good for personal use.

Example sentences

Even as consumer spending increases modestly, those dollars are buying fewer

goods and services.

They argue that new network services and consumer access to vital information

could be stifled by added fees.

Soaring commodity prices are pushing up consumer prices across the globe.

Its critique of contemporary consumer culture and demagoguery is quite

sophisticated.

Remove ads like these. Upgrade now!

action reporter capital goods CCIA consumer advocate consumer goods consumer strike

Matching Quote

"The technological landscape of the present day has enfranchised its own electorates—the inhabitants of marketing zones in the consumer goods society, television audiences and news magazine readerships... vote with money at the cash counter rather than with the ballot paper at the polling booth."

-J.G. Ballard