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:
Any rational onlooker would assume that the Trojans had held on for good, dispatching of the Ducks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2026
Sunday's spectacle drew crowds of hundreds, with onlooker Richard Bode, 34, calling the event a "once-in-a-lifetime experience."
From Barron's ● Jan. 25, 2026
An onlooker warned the agents, “You gonna let him die.”
From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2026
Moments later, another onlooker approached Sliwa and urged him to drop out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2025
The appalling broad orange-and-green check of the jacket and trousers almost blinded the onlooker.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
Templeton has seen onlookers react with similar awe.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
As the sun dips below the horizon, a fleet of onlookers on jet skis and boats idle on the water to catch a peek of the vivacious scene.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
At La Albufera National Park, a protected coastal wetland covering 21,000 hectares south of Valencia, officials have spent the past week turning away or ejecting unauthorized onlookers attempting to enter restricted areas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
In the park of the Temple of Amun, near the centre, hundreds of onlookers had gathered despite the stifling August heat.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
With the help of onlookers, Anderson began to reposition his hose.
From "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy
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.
