# audience

Pronunciation: say "AW-dee-uhns" US /ˈɔ.di.əns/, UK /ˈɔː.di.əns/

## Noun

1. A group of people gathered to listen to or watch a performance, speech, or similar event.
   - Simple: The people who gather to watch or listen to a show, speech, or performance.
   - _The audience fell silent as the lights dimmed before the first act._
   - _Stand-up comedians learn to read an audience and adjust their timing._
2. The people who watch, listen to, read, or follow something, such as a broadcast, a publication, or a person's work, considered as a whole.
   - Simple: All the people who watch, hear, read, or follow something, such as a TV show, a book, or a writer.
   - _The broadcast reached an audience of several million viewers._
   - _Late-night programs compete for the same national audience._
3. A formal meeting granted by a monarch, high official, or religious leader.
   - Simple: A formal meeting with an important leader, like a king or the pope.
   - _The envoy was finally granted an audience with the queen._
   - _The young composer was granted a brief audience with the emperor._

## Noun

4. The act or state of listening to or giving a hearing to a speaker. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The act of listening to someone so that they can be heard.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A judicial court of the Spanish empire, or the territory it administered.

## Origin

From Middle English audience, borrowed through Middle French and Old French audience, from Latin audientia. This traces back to audiēns ("hearing"), the present participle of the verb audiō ("I hear").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/audience (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).