audience

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The people watching or listening to a performance, speech, or program.

   Usage: An audience is a group watching or listening to a performance or presentation. Use a member of the audience when referring to one person in that group.

   The audience stayed silent as the storyteller began the final chapter.

   The audience applauded loudly at the end of the show.

2. 2
   noun

   The people who read, watch, or listen to a particular kind of media.

   This magazine has a small but loyal audience.

3. 3
   noun

   A formal meeting with an important or powerful person.

   She managed to get an audience with the Pope.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Audience dates from the late Middle English period. Its oldest meaning was “hearing” or “attention to what is spoken,” and it is based on Latin audire, “to hear.”

Through French audience, from Latin audientia, related to audiēns, hearing, and audiō, whose infinitive is audīre.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary