consumer

plural consumers

1. One who, or that which, consumes.

   But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.

   2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion

2. economicsSomeone who trades money for goods or services as an individual.

   This new system favours the consumer over the producer.

   2 more examples

   Almost two-thirds of American consumers have at least one unspent gift card tucked away in a drawer, pocket, wallet or purse.

   2023 February 23, Parija Kavilanz, “Americans have a collective $21 billion in unspent gift cards”, in CNN

   A second estimate of gross domestic product, released Thursday, showed that consumer spending was weaker in the first three months of the year than initially reported.

   2024 May 30, Bryan Mena and Nathaniel Meyersohn, “The American shopping spree is losing steam”, in CNN

   Antonyms: producer

3. broadlyThe consumer base of a product, service or business.

   Our consumers are upwardly mobile and middle-class.

4. biologyAn organism (heterotroph) that uses other organisms for food in order to gain energy.

   Antonyms: producer