commercial traveler

IPA/kəmˈɜːʃəl tɹˈavələ/
IPA/kəmˈɜːʃəl tɹˈævəlɚ/

commercial traveler — noun

1. a person whose job is to travel from place to place, showing goods and getting o

1.nounC2
Definition

a person whose job is to travel from place to place, showing goods and getting orders for a company

Example

In 1950, Andrés worked as a commercial traveler for a shoe company.

work as a commercial traveler

The hotel kept a small desk ready for commercial travelers carrying sample cases.

commercial travelers carrying sample cases

Common collocations
  • work as a commercial traveler
  • commercial traveler for a company
  • commercial travelers carrying samples
  • commercial traveler on the road
Synonyms
  • travelling salesman

    traditional near-equivalent, but older in tone and more clearly male-specific

  • sales representative

    modern business term that is gender-neutral and more common today

  • salesperson

    broader term for someone who sells, without the built-in idea of travelling from place to place

Grammar Patterns

work as a commercial traveler

be a commercial traveler for a company

Usage Note

Mostly sounds old-fashioned now and often appears in historical writing or stories about earlier business life. In modern English, people usually say salesperson, sales representative, or travelling salesman instead.

Common Mistakes

Dana is a commercial traveler because she flies to conferences for work.
Dana travels for work, but a commercial traveler is someone who goes from place to place selling goods.
the phrase is for a travelling salesperson, not for every worker who takes business trips.
The company sent a commercial traveler to repair the broken printer.
The company sent a technician to repair the broken printer.
a commercial traveler sells products or takes orders; the phrase is not used for repair workers.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These words all describe someone who sells goods, but they differ in tone and time period. Commercial traveler is an older expression, often used in historical writing for a person who went from town to town with samples or an order book. Travelling salesman is very close in meaning, but it also sounds dated and points more clearly to a male worker. Sales representative is the modern business term and can include office-based or regional sales work, not only constant travel. You might read, 'Manuela's grandfather was a commercial traveler in the 1930s,' but say, 'The company sent a sales representative to meet our store manager today.'

commercial traveler ↗sales representative ↗travelling salesman

Common collocations

Phrases

  • work as a commercial traveler
  • become a commercial traveler

Prepositions

  • as a commercial traveler
  • for a company

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

This phrase joins commercial, from the language of trade and business, with traveler, a person who goes from place to place. In nineteenth-century English, it became a label for sales workers who visited shops and customers in person, often carrying samples or collecting orders as they moved from town to town.

First known use

1807

1807, in the meaning defined above