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📕 rednote ID(小红书号)：3881567312

Client: Definition, Usage & Key Differences (2 meaning)

Meaning 1：customer or user (client)

client 🔊

/ˈklaɪənt/

A person or company that pays for services or advice from a professional person or organization.

Client meeting illustration showing a professional handshake between a businessperson and a client.

customer or user 🔊

➕

/ˈkʌstəmər ɔːr ˈjuːzər/

An individual or organization that hires and pays for the professional services or advice of another party.

📁 Category：Social Economy 🔖 Level：Beginner

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From Latin 'cliens' (listener, follower). The root 'cli-' is related to leaning or depending on something.

💡 Mnemonic

CLIENTS pay for projects, just like they CLING to expert advice. Link 'client' to 'rely on' and 'lean on'.

📖 Example

The advertising agency prepared a detailed report for its biggest client. 🔊 The advertising agency prepared a detailed report for its biggest customer.

🔗 Collocations

retain a client – to keep a client's business

client base – the group of clients a business serves

client meeting – a meeting held with a client

🔄 Synonyms

customer (n.) – A person who buys goods or services from a shop or business.

patron (n.) – A customer, especially a regular one, of a store, restaurant, or theater.

consumer (n.) – A person who purchases goods and services for personal use.

🚫 Antonyms

provider (n.) – A person or company that supplies a service or product.

server (n.) – The party that provides a service (in some contexts, opposite to the receiving party).

🌱 Derivatives

clientel (n.) – A body of clients or dependents (less common, often historical/legal).

client-server (adj.) – Relating to a computer system where workstations (clients) request services from a central computer (server).

📖 Cultural Story

In ancient Rome, a 'cliens' was a plebeian under the protection of a patrician patron (patronus). This relationship of service and dependency evolved into its modern commercial and legal senses. It is a cornerstone term in business, law, and IT.

Meaning 2：software or device (client)

client 🔊

/ˈklaɪənt/

A computer or software that gets information or uses services from a central server on a network.

Client device diagram showing a smartphone requesting data from a server in a network.

software or device 🔊

➕

/ˈsɒftweər ɔːr dɪˈvaɪs/

A computer program or device that requests data or services from a server on a network.

📁 Category：Technological Inventions 🔖 Level：Beginner

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Example

After updating the email client on my phone, downloading attachments became much faster. 🔊 After updating the email software on my phone, downloading attachments became much faster.

🔗 Collocations

email client – a program used to access and manage email

client application – a software application that runs on a user's device and connects to a server

thin client – a computer that depends heavily on a server for its processing

🔄 Synonyms

user agent (n.) – Software that acts on behalf of a user, such as a web browser.

endpoint (n.) – A device or node at the end of a network connection.

workstation (n.) – A powerful computer used for professional applications, often part of a network.

🚫 Antonyms

server (n.) – A computer or system that provides resources, data, or services to other computers (clients) over a network.

host (n.) – A computer that stores and serves data or applications to other computers.

🌱 Derivatives

client-side (adj.) – Relating to processes that occur on the user's device (client) rather than on the server.