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.

A weakness in a smaller vendor or a widely used open-source software component still poses a direct risk to the larger enterprises that depend on them.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026

"It is endangering our lives and our business," said Nicholas, 42, a souvenir vendor who did not want to give his surname for fear of reprisals.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

The underlying blockchain will work through a partnership with a vendor, which hasn’t been chosen.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

What used to be a vendor relationship is becoming something closer to direct ownership, or at a minimum, long-term control over supply that was previously left to market pricing.

From MarketWatch • May 27, 2026

She had lost and would later win back custody of her children, and had worked a variety of odd jobs, from sausage vendor to picking butterbeans.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

vendor

Frequently Asked Questions

Example Sentences

Vocabulary lists containing vendor

100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"

The Lemonade War

The Color of My Words

vendor

Frequently Asked Questions

Example Sentences

Related Words

Vocabulary lists containing vendor

100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"

The Lemonade War

The Color of My Words