observer
Americannoun
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observers
plural
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someone or something that observes.
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a delegate to an assembly or gathering, who is sent to observe and report but not to take part officially in its activities.
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U.S. Air Force.
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a member of an aircrew, other than the pilot, holding an aeronautical rating.
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a person who maintains observation in an aircraft during flight.
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Also called air observer,. Also called aircraft observer. U.S. Army. a person who serves in an aircraft as a reconnoiterer and directs artillery fire.
noun
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a person or thing that observes
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a person who attends a conference solely to note the proceedings
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a person trained to identify aircraft, esp, formerly, a member of an aircrew
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of observer
Explanation
An observer is someone who watches or pays attention to something — if you're an observer of current events, you probably watch the news and read the newspaper every day to keep up with what's going on. You can be an accidental observer of something, like pedestrians who happen to witness an accident and become observers of it. Another kind of observer is one who notices things deliberately, like political observers who watch and comment on various events. Many newspapers once had the word observer in their names, from this second sense of the word. The verb observe has a Latin root, observare, which means "watch over, note, heed, or attend to."
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:
It also has two observer countries: Afghanistan and Mongolia.
From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026
A casual observer might think F1 is an individual sport—a high-speed competition between high-profile drivers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
“The subjective displeasure of an offended observer does not amount to a concrete injury,” Sauer said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
And any observer would count Caldentey as among the very best.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
So one has a set of events, a region of space-time, from which it is not possible to escape to reach a distant observer.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
After Savery finished her victim impact statement, a handful of other victims and observers in the courtroom applauded.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026
Also weighing on talks are Trump's trade wars, notably the recent tit-for-tat flareup with Canada, while observers monitor if the G20 can still work together to address big economic challenges.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
Royal observers say he was down-to-earth, respected and beloved, describing him as a "grandfather" of the nation and the "People's king" - a title also used by his father King Olav V.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
They also revealed that observers see the object from a nearly pole-on perspective.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
Despite Welles’s apologetic words, some observers questioned his sincerity.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
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.
