a person who acquires goods and services for his or her own personal needs
Compareproducer 6 a person or thing that consumes - (usually plural)
an organism, esp an animal, within a community that feeds upon plants or other animals
See also decomposer
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
con•sum•er /kənˈsumɚ/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- a person or thing that consumes.
- Business(in economics) a person or organization that buys something or uses a service:Have consumers lost confidence in the economy?
con•sum•er
(kən so̅o̅′mər),USA pronunciation n.
con•sum′er•ship′, n.
- a person or thing that consumes.
- Business[Econ.]a person or organization that uses a commodity or service.
- Ecologyan organism, usually an animal, that feeds on plants or other animals.
- 1375–1425 for earlier sense "squanderer,'' 1525–35 for current senses; Middle English; see consume, -er1
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