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prosumer

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prosumer¹

  • /pɹəʊˈsjuːmə/ UK

Where it comes from

Blend of producer + consumer, coined by futurologist Alvin Toffler in his book The Third Wave (1980). Concept based on suggestion by Marshall McLuhan and Barrington Nevitt in their 1972 book Take Today (p. 4) that consumers would take on producer roles in mass customization.

noun prosumers

  1. A person in postindustrial society who combines the economic roles of producer and consumer. During the First Wave most people consumed what they themselves produced. They were neither producers nor consumers in the usual sense. They were instead what might be called "prosumers."

prosumer²

  • /pɹəʊˈsjuːmə/ UK

adjective

  1. not comparable, of a consumer product Targeting serious, enthusiastic consumers, incorporating professional features but often modified for non-professional use.
  2. not comparable, of a consumer product High-end.

noun prosumers

  1. A serious, enthusiastic consumer: not professional (earning money), but of similar interest and skills to a (generally lower-level) professional, or aspiring to that.

    Similar: amateur, enthusiast, hobbyist, semiprofessional

Translations

Every language

noun person in postindustrial society

Españolprosumidor

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Cite this
MLA

"prosumer." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/prosumer. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

prosumer. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/prosumer

Chicago

"prosumer." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/prosumer.

BibTeX
@misc{prosumer_2026,
  title = {prosumer},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/prosumer},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}