user
Pluralusers
- 1A person who uses something, such as a product, service, facility, computer, or network.
The system logged out any user who stayed idle for ten minutes.
Administrators can reset passwords for users who forget them.
Note
In computing, the person and the account blur together: a user is typically someone the system recognizes because they have been given a user account. That pairing explains why the informal clipping could slide one step further and let user stand for the login name rather than the person behind it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Computing users typically have accounts through which systems recognize them. en.wikipedia.org
- User can be an informal clipping of username. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A drug taker, especially someone using illegal drugs.
Outreach workers handed clean needles to intravenous users in the park.
As a longtime opioid user, she recognized the warning signs of an overdose.
Similaraddict
- 3A person who exploits others, treating and regarding people unfairly or selfishly for personal gain.
Behind his charm, he was a user who discarded people once they stopped being useful.
She finally saw her so-called friends as users exploiting her kindness.
Similarexploiter, manipulator, parasite, leech
Less common meanings
- 4Clipping of username: the name someone uses to identify themselves when logging in to a website, app, or online service.
He finally changed his user on the forum because the old one was too embarrassing.
Drop your user in the group chat and I'll add you to the server tonight.
Note
Here the word names a login, not a person. It is a shortening of username, the string a system uses to identify someone. Context usually settles it: beside password, or after "the wrong," it means the name typed in.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- User in this sense is a shortening of username. en.wiktionary.org
- A username is a string used to identify someone on a computer system. en.wiktionary.org
- 5In land law, the use or enjoyment of land or a right over it, especially its continued exercise as evidence supporting a legal claim.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of user apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Middle English usere, formed from "use" plus the suffix "-er". It is cognate with Scots usar or uiser ("user").
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- User derives from Middle English usere and is formed from use plus -er. en.wiktionary.org
- User is cognate with Scots usar or uiser, meaning “user”. en.wiktionary.org