audience
Pluralaudiences
- 1The people who gather to watch or listen to a show, speech, or performance.
Like all the people sitting in a movie theater to watch the same film.
The audience clapped loudly when the singer finished her last song.
A big audience came to watch the school play on opening night.
UsageYou sit in the audience. Most often say the audience is or was.
Similarcrowd, spectators, house
Note
- 2All the people who watch, hear, read, or follow something, such as a TV show, a book, or a writer.
Like everyone at home tuning in to the same channel at the same time.
The morning show has a huge audience across the whole country.
Radio stations try to grow their audience every year.
UsageSay a large or small audience, and reach or grow an audience.
- 3A formal meeting with an important leader, like a king or the pope.
Like getting a special meeting time with someone very important.
The ambassador asked for an audience with the king.
Pilgrims hoped for an audience with the pope.
UsageYou ask for or get an audience with someone important.
Note
Less common meanings
- 4The act of listening to someone so that they can be heard.
WHen he had ended all his ſayingꝭ in the audience of the people / he entred ĩto Capernaum.
1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt (Tyndale Bible)Here, audience means hearing, so the people were listening to him.Similarhearing
Note
- 5A high court in the old Spanish empire, or the land it governed.
Practice
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Origin
It came from Latin, from a word meaning "hearing," from the verb audiō "I hear." It reached English through French.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Audience ultimately comes from Latin audientia, meaning hearing. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin source derives from the verb audiō. en.wiktionary.org
- Audiō means I hear. en.wiktionary.org
- Audience reached English through French. en.wiktionary.org