Audience

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɔːdiÉ™ns/

Origin

From Old French audience, from Latin audientia, from present participle audiens "hearing", from verb audio, "I hear".

Full definition of audience

Noun

1. (now rare) Hearing; the condition or state of hearing or listening. from 14th c.
• 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke VII:When he had ended all his sayinges in the audience of the people, he entred into Capernaum.
2. A group of people within hearing; specifically a group of people listening to a performance, speech etc.; the crowd seeing a stage performance. from 15th c.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 3, One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis … interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
3. We joined the audience just as the lights went down.
4. A formal meeting with a state or religious dignitary. from 16th c.
   She managed to get an audience with the Pope.
5. The readership of a book or other written publication. from 19th c.
   "Private Eye" has a small but faithful audience.
6. A following. from 20th c.
   The opera singer expanded his audience by singing songs from the shows.

Usage notes

In some dialects, audience is used as a plurale tantum.

The audience are getting restless.

Synonyms

• hearership, listenership
• (group of people seeing a performance) spectators, crowd

Derived terms

Related terms