ENGLISH
REFERENCE

vendor

n. countable
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈvɛndɝ// UK //vˈɛndɐ// ven·dor

n. a person or company that sells things, especially on the street or at a market. You also use this word for businesses that provide services or products to other companies.

n. a person or entity that offers goods or services for sale, typically in a commercial or street-level context. Often used in business environments to refer to third-party suppliers.


SIMPLE

The street vendor sells fresh fruit every morning.

CONTEXTUAL

The company is looking for a new software vendor to manage its internal payroll system.

COMPLEX

While the local market is famous for its independent food vendors, the city's procurement office deals primarily with large-scale industrial vendors for its infrastructure needs.

Synonyms
Origin

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman vendor (Old French vendeor), from Latin venditor (“seller”), from vendere (“to sell, cry up for sale, praise”), contraction of venundare, venumdare, also, as originally, two words venum dare (“to sell”), from venum (“sale, price”) + dare (“to give”).

Usage

Commonly used in both retail contexts (street vendor) and formal business-to-business contexts (software vendor).

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