spectator
Americannoun
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a person who looks on or watches; onlooker; observer.
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a person who is present at and views a spectacle, display, or the like; member of an audience.
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Also called spectator shoe. a white shoe with a perforated wing tip and back trim, traditionally of dark brown, dark blue, or black but sometimes of a lighter color.
noun
Other Word Forms
- spectatorial adjective
Etymology
Origin of spectator
1580–90; < Latin spectātor, equivalent to spectā ( re ), frequentative of specere to look, regard + -tor -tor
Explanation
If you're watching something, you're a spectator. Football stadiums and circus tents are full of spectators. The spectator is a particular kind of viewer; unlike a witness or an onlooker, they usually have chosen intentionally to regard the spectacle before them. Usually the word spectator refers to people watching games or "spectator sports," but you could be a spectator at any planned event. An easy way to remember this word is to think of spectacles, glasses used to view something clearly — both from the same Latin root spectare.
Vocabulary lists containing spectator
Vocabulary of the Summer Olympics
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Maniac Magee
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100 SAT words Beginning with "S"
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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.
It’s one thing to revel in a public figure’s self-inflicted unraveling, but when kids are involved, the role of the spectator becomes more complex.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026
In the past two years, spending on live events, excluding spectator sports, has shot up by $10 billion to a total of $60 billion.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 30, 2026
Messi, who was brought on as a half-time substitute, was wrestled to the turf by a spectator with two minutes remaining of normal time.
From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026
What the more casual spectator wants, and gets, is a highly dramatic, bingeable distillation of a sport that involves multimillion-dollar cars going in eccentric circles.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 25, 2026
“That horse of yours can’t walk,” said one spectator as Seabiscuit bumped past.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
