listener
Americannoun
-
someone who gives attention with the ear, especially for the purpose of hearing specific sounds, speech, instructions, etc..
At story time, you may choose to be a reader or a listener.
-
someone who listens to a radio broadcast or to a specific radio program.
They attract teenage listeners with pop songs about first love.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of listener
First recorded in 1600–20; listen ( def. ) + -er 1 ( def. )
Vocabulary lists containing listener
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.
I would read his autobiography all the time and his whole thing was affecting the music, affecting the listener, really approaching it to challenge the listener as well as challenging yourself.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
“Never Be the Same” includes many moments like this that lull the listener into losing track of place and time with songs grounded in emotion and meaning.
From Salon • May 15, 2026
Whether his songs about Middle America read as a desire for escape or a tribute to a modest and quieter life depends on where the listener might be when he or she finds them.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
Leo is more of a listener and, in his speeches, he has focused on social priorities like the fight against poverty and repeated warnings over the risks of artificial intelligence.
From Barron's • May 6, 2026
“I did, Jane. If any listener had heard me, he would have thought me mad: I pronounced them with such frantic energy.”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Definitions 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.
