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Synonyms

trader

American  
[trey-der] / ˈtreɪ dər /

noun

  1. a person who trades; a merchant or businessperson.

  2. a ship used in trade, especially foreign trade.

  3. a member of a stock exchange trading privately and not on behalf of customers.

trader British  
/ ˈtreɪdə /

noun

  1. a person who engages in trade; dealer; merchant

  2. a vessel regularly employed in foreign or coastal trade

  3. stock exchange a member who operates mainly on his or her own account rather than for customers' accounts

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • nontrader noun
  • tradership noun
  • undertrader noun

Etymology

Origin of trader

First recorded in 1575–85; trade + -er 1

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 trader at the capital's main wholesale market, Priyantha Sudharshana Silva, 53, is not blaming the administration for the crisis.

From Barron's • Apr. 4, 2026

Buffett said Berkshire gets by with just one trader, adding that investment firms don’t need a lot of people to handle their trades.

From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026

According to the BBC, one trader made $436,000 on a $32,000 bet on the timing of the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

From Salon • Mar. 26, 2026

Prices tracked weaker soybean oil and crude oil, says David Ng, a trader at Kuala Lumpur-based Iceberg X. Ng sees support at 4,500 ringgit a ton and resistance at 4,680 ringgit a ton.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

She said that the Portuguese trader had a yellow-and-blue parrot in a cage.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.