onlooking
Americanadjective
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looking on; observing; perceiving.
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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.
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
In Virginia, bagpipes and The Star-Spangled Banner were performed in front of military personnel and onlooking civilians at the Pentagon.
From BBC • Sep. 11, 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
That does risk giving her “whatever reaction she’s clearly looking for,” and with it an opening to garner the sympathy of the onlooking relatives.
From Washington Post • Aug. 21, 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.
