viewing

Pluralviewings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A single instance of looking at or watching something.

   The real estate agent arranged a viewing for Saturday morning.

   Several private viewings were scheduled before the auction.

   Similarshowing, inspection

   Note

   Unlike the bare verb form, this noun counts: one viewing, subsequent viewings. It names a single occasion of looking, which is why it suits both an agent's tour of a property and a film that grows on you with repeated watching. Academic writing stretches it further. Felix Driver and Luciana Martins, in Tropical Visions in an Age of Empire (2005), set "lookings and viewings" side by side as acts worth studying in themselves.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of view.

   The committee is viewing several proposals this week.

   Viewing the city from the tower, they felt suddenly small.

   Note

   The verb form carries both of view's transitive meanings: looking at something, and regarding it in a stated way (viewing the delay as a setback, viewing the plan with suspicion). After forms of be it builds progressive tenses; as a gerund it fills noun slots. The same spelling also serves as the countable noun, which takes a plural, viewings. The verb form never does.

3. 3
   adjective

   Connected with or intended for the act of watching.

   The new theater includes a comfortable viewing gallery.

   Guests gathered on the viewing platform to watch the launch.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A gathering held before a funeral at which mourners can see the body of the person who has died.

   The viewing was scheduled for the evening before the burial.

   Relatives gathered quietly at the viewing to pay their respects.

   Similarwake, visitation

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