onlooker
23
3.2
- noun
- /ˈɑnˌlʊkər/
- As an onlooker, he enjoyed watching the street performers entertain the crowd.
- crowd of onlookers
- onlookers watching
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Watch on YouTubeIt's also for the potential onlookers.
- It's also for the potential onlookers.
- But let's imagine a different scenario, right, where you're again in an exchange with a fellow scholar or a classmate and there are onlookers, right?
- The hero who appears before the onlookers splits up into his mask, and the actor into the person in the play and the actual self.
- We need only recall the postcard image of tortured and burned bodies of black lynching victims hanging from trees as grinning white onlookers point up at them.
Examples
-
According to an onlooker, her buttons tensed over the padding like hounds on a leash.
-
A packed house of enthusiastic onlookers gathers in the School of Music Concert Hall.
Academic text (2013) -
We stood in the crowd of onlookers and watched the black cloud cross over the river.
Academic text (2004) -
The room erupted in cheers, and more than half of the onlookers rose to their feet.
Academic text (1997) -
Several reporters and curious onlookers stand nearby as Kellaway and his men take it all in.
Fiction book (1994) -
She's standing behind a sawhorse, part of a crowd of onlookers at a downtown demolition site.
Fiction book (1992) -
Almost imperceptibly, they moved nearer the onlookers and formed a double line around the courthouse.
Fiction book (1990) -
As the officers disperse the reporters and other onlookers, Peggy slips away from the group.
Fiction book (1994) -
Milo Todd broke from the knot of onlookers and hotfooted it on over.
Fiction book (1994) -
With soldierly precision that impressed the onlookers, Lyon's regiments surrounded Camp Jackson on all sides.
Academic text (2011)
Synonyms
586
1.3
A person who watches TV or films
265
2.8
A person who watches and notices things, often to give expert opinion
100
3.9
A person who watches a place or people to keep them safe
93
2.6
A person who watches an event or show without taking part
79
3.4
A person who watches an event but does not take part
21
5.8
A person who looks at something
12
5.8
A person who watches a situation without being noticed
2
9.9
A person who watches something without taking part
2
4.0
A person who looks at something for a long time with interest or wonder
1
4.4
A person who watches an event without taking part
A person who stands watching something out of idle curiosity and is easily impressed
Antonyms
How Observant
Surface Forms
Morphology
onlooker = onlook (transparent) = on + look + er
The suffix 'er' indicates a person performing the action of 'onlook'.
Etymology
The word onlooker comes from two simple parts: on- meaning 'at the side' and look meaning 'to see'. So an onlooker is someone who watches 'without taking part'.