viewer

[vyoo-er]

noun

1. a person or thing that views.

2. a person who watches television, often a devotee of television or of a particular kind of television program.

   a weekly show aimed at teenage viewers.

3. any of various optical devices to facilitate viewing, view, especially one that is small and boxlike with a magnifying lens, and sometimes a light source, in which a photographic transparency may be viewed.

4. an eyepiece or viewfinder.

5. an official inspector of property, public works, or the like.

viewer

/ ˈvjuːə /

noun

1. a person who views something, esp television

2. any optical device by means of which something is viewed, esp one used for viewing photographic transparencies

3. law a person appointed by a court to inspect and report upon property, etc

Other Word Forms

• viewership noun
• nonviewer noun
• underviewer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of viewer¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; view, -er ¹

Example Sentences

Jones and Corden explained that the idea was for the tape to play and just as viewers brace for the big reveal, the footage fuzzes out and jams.

Read more on BBC

But its arrival might spark a sense of nostalgia among older viewers.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

As for the movie, there’s nothing comfortable about it, for either the characters or the viewers.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Millions of viewers now watch monologues and other late night gags the following day on YouTube, which means networks that produce the shows have lost valuable revenue because Google controls much of that advertising.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

At appropriate points, a model of the annex and vitrines with correspondence related to the Frank family’s U.S. immigration attempts and other artifacts are briefly illuminated—but behind viewers, so easy to miss.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• observer 
• onlooker 
• spectator 
• watcher