client

[klahy-uh nt] /ˈklaɪ ənt/
noun
1.
a person or group that uses the professional advice or services of a lawyer, accountant, advertising agency, architect, etc.
2.
a person who is receiving the benefits, services, etc., of a social welfare agency, a government bureau, etc.
3.
a customer.
4.
anyone under the patronage of another; a dependent.
5.
Computers. a workstation on a network that gains access to central data files, programs, and peripheral devices through a server.
6.
client state.
7.
(in ancient Rome) a plebeian who lived under the patronage of a patrician.
adjective
8.
being a regular customer:
a client company.
9.
economically, and often militarily, dependent upon a more prosperous, more powerful nation.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English < Latin client-, stem of cliēns person seeking the protection or influence of someone powerful; perhaps akin to clīnāre to bend (see incline)
Related forms
cliental
[klahy-en-tl, klahy-uh n-tl] /klaɪˈɛn tl, ˈklaɪ ən tl/ (Show IPA), adjective
nonclient, adjective
Examples from the web for clients
  • It would be far cheaper to do it all by computer, but that's not what our clients want.
  • His job involves taking clients to ruins and rock-art sites that he has already scouted.
  • Advise clients on application procedures for graduate programs in education, humanities, and social sciences.
  • Nor do all these professors seem to make policy statements contrary to the financial interests of their clients.
  • Yes, those who apply science commercially don't suffer from such delusions, and they're a good many of my clients.
  • Chen discusses the artistic preferences of the gallery's overseas clients.
  • Their colleagues and clients wanted to believe them.
  • The ability to create these opportunities for my clients is what gives them their wings yet keeps them coming back.
  • They are not suited for helping clients to use less energy.
  • Certainly my experience as a clinician is that my clients develop more free will as they recover from their conditions.
British Dictionary definitions for clients

client

/ˈklaɪənt/
noun
1.
a person, company, etc, that seeks the advice of a professional man or woman
2.
a customer
3.
a person who is registered with or receiving services or financial aid from a welfare agency
4.
(computing) a program or work station that requests data or information from a server
5.
a person depending on another's patronage
Derived Forms
cliental (klaɪˈɛntəl) adjective
Word Origin
C14: from Latin cliēns retainer, dependant; related to Latin clīnāre to lean
Word Origin and History for clients

client

n.

late 14c., from Anglo-French clyent (c.1300), from Latin clientem (nominative cliens) "follower, retainer," perhaps a variant of present participle of cluere "listen, follow, obey" (see listen); or, more likely, from clinare "to incline, bend," from suffixed form of PIE root *klei- "to lean" (see lean (v.)).

The ground sense apparently is of one who leans on another for protection. In ancient Rome, a plebian under protection of a patrician (called patronus in this relationship; see patron); in English originally "a lawyer's customer," by c.1600 extended to any customer.

clients in Science
client
  (klī'ənt)   
A program that runs on a personal computer or workstation connected to a computer network and requests information from a file server.