onlooking
Americanadjective
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looking on; observing; perceiving.
-
looking onward or foreboding.
Etymology
Origin of onlooking
1655–65; on + looking ( def. ), after verb phrase look 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.
Meanwhile, those at the back of the “Clubhouse” tier danced freely in yards of open space, twirling, to the dismay of the onlooking VIP crowd.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Hojlund and Mainoo were the two stars of this mixed United show - even outshining the onlooking idol enjoying his day out in Bedfordshire.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2024
Then you have the onlooking play, where they're beginning to think, "Hm, I wonder what somebody else is doing."
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2023
"Give me liberty or death," the bespectacled man told onlooking residents at the gate of a compound in an impassioned speech on Thursday, according to videos seen by Reuters.
From Reuters ● Nov. 25, 2022
“Thank you,” the beggar said in a much stronger voice, and he bowed to the onlooking people.
From "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin
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.
