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A person or organization using the services of a professional person or company.
The architect showed the client the building plans.
The designer presented the blueprints to the person paying for the design work.
She has been a loyal client of the hair salon for ten years.
She has regularly used the same hair salon for a decade.
Often used in business, law, finance, and service industries. Can imply a long-term relationship.
A computer or program that requests data or services from a server.
The web browser acts as a client when fetching data from a website.
The internet application requests information from a remote computer system.
In computing, a client is the requesting system or software, while a server provides the service.
An old term for a person under someone's protection or patronage.
In medieval times, a knight might have a client who relied on his aid.
Historically, a powerful person could have a dependent who sought their support.
Rarely used in modern English except in historical or specialized contexts.
Use 'client' for professional services (law, consulting, therapy) and 'customer' for retail or product sales. 'Client' implies a longer-term relationship.
When referring to people paying for professional services, 'client' is more formal than 'customer'. Use it in business, law, and healthcare contexts.
From Old French 'client' (14th century), from Latin 'cliens' (plural 'clientes'), meaning 'follower, retainer' or 'dependent'. Originally referred to a person under the protection of a patron in ancient Rome. The sense of 'customer' emerged in the 16th century.
In professional contexts, 'client' implies a formal relationship, often with ongoing services. Avoid using it for casual or one-time transactions where 'customer' or 'consumer' would be more appropriate. In computing, 'client' specifically refers to the requesting end of a network service.