# viewer

Pronunciation: US say "VYOO-ur" /ˈvju.ɚ/; UK say "VYOO-uh" /ˈvjuːə/

## Noun

1. A member of a television audience.
   - Simple: A person who watches television.
   - _The broadcaster designs its evening schedule around what the average viewer wants._
   - _Loyal viewers complained when their favorite show moved to a later time slot._
2. A person who watches a spectacle; an onlooker or spectator.
   - Simple: A person who watches an event, show, or sight as it happens.
   - _A single viewer lingered after the fireworks to watch the smoke clear._
   - _Spectators and other viewers packed the square to see the royal procession._
3. An optical device used for looking at photographic slides.
   - Simple: A small device with a lens for looking at photographic slides.
   - _He threaded a slide into the handheld viewer and squinted at the image._
   - _Vintage viewers let collectors examine old transparencies in fine detail._
4. Software that opens a file and shows its contents on screen.
   - Simple: A computer program that shows what is inside a file.
   - _The image viewer rendered the file without letting her edit a single pixel._
   - _Developers shipped a lightweight log viewer for reading server output._
5. An appointed inspector or examiner.
   - Simple: A person chosen to inspect or check something officially.
   - _The court named a viewer to examine the damaged property and report his findings._
   - _Parish viewers measured the flooded fields and recorded each tenant's loss._
6. The person in charge of a coal mine, responsible for directing its operations and ventilation.
   - Simple: A person who manages a coal mine and controls its air supply.
   - _Each morning the viewer descended the pit to inspect the new workings._
   - _The colliery's viewer redesigned the ventilation after the explosion._

## Origin

From Middle English vewer, equivalent to "view" combined with the suffix "-er".

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