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Definitions

vendor

[ven-der, ven-dawr] / ˈvɛn dər, vɛnˈdɔr /
NOUN
person who sells wares
Synonyms
STRONGEST
dealer hawker merchant peddler
STRONG
businessperson huckster pitcher traveler
WEAK
outcrier traveling salesperson
Antonyms
STRONGEST
customer

Frequently Asked Questions

What is another word for vendor?
Vendor is a word for a person, company, or other entity that sells things. When it’s an individual person selling things from a stall in a street market, the term street vendor is often used. More old-fashioned words for a person who sells things on the street include peddler and hawker. Perhaps the closest synonym for vender is seller. It gets at exactly what a vendor does—sells things—and it can be used for both individuals and companies. Similar words include merchant and retailer. More specific words include dealer and supplier, which both are most often used in the context of businesses that sell to other businesses. (They’re sometimes also used in illegal contexts.)
What is a third party vendor?
The term third party vendor refers to a business that is authorized to provide goods or services to customers on the behalf of the main business. The term third party is used because the additional business is tangential to the transactional relationship between the primary business and the customer. Another word for third party vender is third party seller. For example, the retailer Amazon features many third party sellers, some of which you can also buy from directly without using Amazon’s fulfillment services.
How do you use vendor in a sentence?
The word vendor is a common word in the context of commerce involving all kinds of businesses. Here are some examples of vendors in a sentence:
  • The fair had hundreds of food vendors offering all kinds of delicious fried foods —it was heaven.
  • Vendors across the region have been seeing their sales increase by large margins.
  • We reached out to our vendors to inquire about the shipping delays.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The schedule promoted a free glam bar, which wasn’t staffed for most of the weekend, said Brielle Cenci, a vendor who paid several thousand dollars to have a booth.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

One vendor sold t-shirts with captions proclaiming “LEGEND” alternatively accompanying pictures of Charlie Kirk or, for some reason, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts together in costume from The Andy Griffith Show.

From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026

He razed the house where he grew up and built his restaurant on the land where his father had been a roadside vendor.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

When your customer’s AI vendor helps it negotiate against you, your pricing power isn’t eroding.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 19, 2026

Sometimes he would stop outside a tube station, often by a flower or a newspaper vendor, and watch the people brushing past him.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.