onlooking

[ on-look-ing, awn- ]

/ ˈɒnˌlʊk ɪŋ, ˈɔn- /

Save This Word!

adjective

looking on; observing; perceiving.

looking onward or foreboding.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

Origin of onlooking

1655–65; on + looking, after verb phrase look on

It all began with a meticulously schemed fake drowning just feet from his onlooking wife in the fast currents of Arkansas’ Little Red River in the winter of 2008.
VANISHED: 6 Unsolved and Baffling Disappearances|Sohini Das Gupta|July 21, 2021|Ozy
It is exhibiting women with such approaches to nakedness as can have no other design than to breed lust behind the onlooking eyes.
Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes|J. M. Judy
Instantly the impulses of a woman flashed through every vein and nerve of that onlooking girl.
John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein|Frank R. Stockton
The gay capital of France remains the center of the stage and retains the interest of the onlooking universe.
Marse Henry (Vol. 2)|Henry Watterson

The three long, dangerously-loaded barges advanced amid the shouts of the onlooking army.
Salammbo|Gustave Flaubert
We might illustrate by the "Wild West Show" in which the onlooking boy imagines himself an active participant.
The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets|Jane Addams