grocer

noun

gro·​cer ˈgrō-sər  -shər 

: a dealer in staple foodstuffs, meats, produce, and dairy products and usually household supplies

Examples of grocer in a Sentence

Ask your local grocer if he sells organic fruits and vegetables.

Recent Examples on the Web

The local grocer awarded a turkey or ham to those with the best decorations. —Francine Kiefer, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Dec. 2024

With this approach, grocers can display all store items online, differentiating between those immediately available and those available at a future date. —Devadas Pattathil, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024

And Southdale Center in 2023 brought in Kowalski’s, an upscale local grocer that filled the first floor space occupied by a former Herberger’s department store. —David Moin, WWD, 17 Dec. 2024

Safeway had already sold the building to Align Real Estate, which still owns the site, but Breed negotiated that the grocer stay there for enough time to develop a city plan there. —Jenny Goldsberry, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 12 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English grocer, grosser "wholesale dealer in preserved foods, spices, wine, etc.," borrowed from Anglo-French groser, grosser, grossour (Middle French grossier), from gros "the greater part, the bulk," en gros "wholesale, in bulk" (derivative of gros, adjective, "large, great, coarse") + -er, -our -er entry 2 — more at gross entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

grocer

noun

gro·​cer ˈgrō-sər 

: a dealer in food and household supplies