onlooker
Americannoun
-
onlookers
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of onlooker
Explanation
An onlooker is someone who watches something but isn't directly involved in it. The spectators at a boxing match or a dog show or a marathon are all onlookers. If you observe an event but you don't participate in it, you're an onlooker. The event itself might be a performance of some kind, like a concert or a football match, or it might be some undesirable occurrence: "The firefighters battled the blaze while onlookers watched in horror." Onlooker dates from the early seventeenth century, from the sense of "looking on."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Another onlooker, 18-year-old Zoe Perez, was on the verge of tears.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
The King and Queen arrived last and one onlooker was heard shouting "God bless the King".
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2026
“How’s the weather been?” he asked one onlooker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
Any rational onlooker would assume that the Trojans had held on for good, dispatching of the Ducks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2026
It was a little bit like shaping a wild, natural landscape into identifiable patterns for the benefit of the human onlooker.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Some onlookers say they will believe 2028 when they see it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
She had had a fright and could not even deal with the concern and empathy of onlookers.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
The BBC had a team at the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, which was shutdown to traffic and onlookers as celebrities in black cars took over.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Next to the damaged station, dozens of onlookers stared at the flames roaring from the vehicle amid shards of glass and rubble, AFP journalists observed.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
Outside the cordon, curious onlookers were kept away by Philadelphia police officers as Wes and Tony were led outside in handcuffs, and thrown into the back of a police wagon.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
