consumer

Etymology

consume +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈsjuːmə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈsumɚ/
• Rhymes: -uːmə(r)

Noun

consumer (plural consumers)

1. One who, or that which, consumes.
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion‎:

     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.

2. (economics) someone who trades money for goods as an individual.

   This new system favours the consumer over the producer.

3. (by extension) The consumer base of a product, service or business.

   Our consumers are upwardly mobile and middle-class.

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

Further reading

• "consumer" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 78.

Anagrams

• cornmuse, mucrones

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.sy.me/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

consumer

1. to consume; to use up
2. (figuratively) to consume

Further reading

• “consumer” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).