A client is someone who pays for professional services or advice. When your family hires a lawyer to help with a legal problem, you become that lawyer's client. When someone brings their dog to a veterinarian, they're a client of that veterinary practice. Architects, accountants, therapists, and consultants all have clients.

The word emphasizes a professional relationship built on trust and expertise. Clients pay for someone's knowledge, skill, and personalized attention: for example, a lawyer's client might need help understanding complicated laws, while an architect's client needs someone to design a safe, beautiful building.

Notice that the relationship works both ways. Clients pay money, but they also share information and trust the professional to help them. A therapist's client discusses personal feelings. A financial advisor's client shares details about their money and goals.

In the world of technology, client has a different meaning: it refers to a computer or program that receives services from another computer called a server. When you use a web browser to visit a website, your browser is acting as a client, requesting information from a server somewhere else.