spectator
Americannoun
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spectators
plural
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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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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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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 other spectator would have had to just deal with it, but Austin wasn’t just any other spectator.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
You are not a spectator to American democracy, and you are not a passive recipient of American constitutional meaning.
From Slate ● Jul. 18, 2026
A last-minute ticket swap with a fellow spectator got him on to Centre Court for a Murray victory in 2015 - and he came away with an incredible souvenir.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
Those initiatives had a good foundation to build on since soccer is Canada’s most popular sport in terms of registration and participation and ranks behind only hockey as a spectator sport.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
The short guy who’d been referred to as a Med-jack—Clint, if the spectator had been correct—stood up from his examination.
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
"Young people don't feel like actors in society, but spectators in a country that is being built without them."
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
He pointed out there was a total of 500,000 spectators at the British Grand Prix over the four days in 2025, and 564,000 in 2026.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Possible cuts to Metrolink’s budget could also affect transit for spectators planning to visit L.A. from surrounding counties.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
About 500,000 spectators turned out in Paris on Sunday, with 180,000 around Montmartre alone.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Along a three-and-a-half-mile stretch of Fifth Avenue, the flag-bedecked buildings with flat roofs, balconies, and fire escapes were stuffed with sweating spectators.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
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.
