client
noun/ˈklaɪ.ənt/
Etymology From Middle English client, from Anglo-Norman clyent, Old French client, from Latin cliēns, akin to clinare (“to lean”).
A customer, a buyer or receiver of goods or services.
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The role of a computer application or system that requests and/or consumes the services provided by another having the role of server.
A person who receives help or services from a professional such as a lawyer or accountant.
- I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields[…]. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair,[…]. My client welcomed the judge […] and they disappeared together into the Ethiopian card-room, which was filled with the assegais and exclamation point shields Mr. Cooke had had made at the sawmill at Beaverton.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
Law A person who employs or retains an attorney to represent him or her in any legal matter, or one who merely divulges confidential matters to an attorney while pursuing professional assistance without subsequently retaining the attorney.
Historical In ancient Rome, retainers and followers associated with a gens.
- The nomen belonged to all members of a gens and to all those attached to it (women, clients, and freedmen included).1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xv:
Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of client state.
International relations
- A third preliminary comment deals explicitly with the relations between clients and superpowers.1989, Edward A. Kolodziej, Roger E. Kanet, Limits of Soviet Power, page 95:
- Russia’s leader is a conservative, old-school thug. He thinks Russia is still a superpower, not what he’s made it: a despised rogue state and Chinese client.2026 June 14, Simon Tisdall, “Russia is losing the war in Ukraine, and Putin is desperate. But that’s when he’s at his most dangerous”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- Derived terms
33 terms
cliency, clientage, cliental, clientdom, cliented, clientess, clienthood, clientish, clientism, clientitis, clientless, clientlike, cliently, clientness, clientship, direct client contact, multiclient, nonclient, servent, client-only, client-server, client-side, clientworthy, attorney-client privilege, client account, client base, client king, client service, client state, collaborative client, email client, hip-pocket client, solicitor-client privilege- Hyponyms
- fat client, heavy client, hybrid client, lean client, rich client, RTE client, slim client, thick client, thin client, ultra-thin client, Web client, zero client, zombie client
- Holonyms
- clientele