From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsuppliersup‧pli‧er /səˈplaɪə $ -ər/ noun [countable] (also suppliers [plural])BBCPROVIDE a company or person that provides a particular productsupplier of the UK’s largest supplier of office equipment
Examples from the Corpus
supplier• Major art suppliers offer their own willow charcoals in similar formats.• one of the world's biggest suppliers of defense equipment• The changes envisaged in the White Paper could lead to a personal social service system dominated by commercial suppliers.• These high profits have a paradoxical effect: They provide a steady incentive for drug suppliers.• The company is now the main supplier of educational software to schools.• Alternatively, the customer or supplier may look on the purported transfer as an opportunity to terminate or renegotiate the contract.• To do this, the estimator must initiate inquiries for price information from potential suppliers.• The goal is to link the company and the suppliers and distributors so that payments can be sent and received electronically.• Materials from the supplier will be ordered only if the production plant can sell its product.• Buyers worked closely with suppliers, both new and established, to identify opportunities and develop exciting new Sainsbury brand products.supplier of• Libya is Italy's largest supplier of oil.From Longman Business Dictionarysuppliersup‧pli‧er /səˈplaɪə-ər/ noun [countable]COMMERCE a company that provides a particular type of productsupplier ofMicrosoft is the world’s largest supplier of PC software.With California’s orange crop halved, local suppliers have had to find alternative sources.What the retailer needs is a larger supplier base in order to be more competitive. → first-tier supplier → preferred supplier → second-tier supplier 