spotter
Americannoun
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spotters
plural
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a person employed to remove spots from clothing, especially at a dry-cleaning establishment.
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(in civil defense) a civilian who watches for enemy airplanes.
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Informal. a person employed to watch the activity and behavior of others, especially employees, as for evidence of dishonesty.
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Military. an observer at a forward position who singles out targets for gunners.
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a person or thing that spots.
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(in small-arms practice firing) a small black disk attached to the target to make more prominent the places where a bullet has hit.
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an assistant to a sportscaster who provides the names of the players chiefly involved in each play of a game, especially a football game.
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Gymnastics, Tumbling. a person who is stationed in the most effective place to guard against an injury to a performer in the act of executing a maneuver.
noun
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a person or thing that watches or observes
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( as modifier )
a spotter plane
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a person who makes a hobby of watching for and noting numbers or types of trains, buses, etc
a train spotter
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military a person who orders or advises adjustment of fire on a target by observations
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a person, esp one engaged in civil defence, who watches for enemy aircraft
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informal an employee assigned to spy on his colleagues in order to check on their honesty
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films
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a person who checks against irregularities and inconsistencies
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a person who searches for new material, performers, etc
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of spotter
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:
Looking down at her chief executive, who was stationed nearby as a spotter, she called out: “Josep Maria, don’t let me fall!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
The macro and thematic equity research group was founded by investor and trend spotter James van Geelen, who identified AI as a game changer in 2022 and spotted diet drugs early in 2023.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 12, 2026
The surge of immigration detention flights at Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport spurred plane spotter Nick Benson to shift from tracking rare and unusual aircraft to cataloging the removal of detainees from Minnesota.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
He relies on “Malibu” Kelly Hayes, who has been his spotter for every football game since 1978.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2025
“First, you gotta pay the fisherman for his fuel and his time. Then, you gotta pay the spotter to find the shark.”
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
Another low-tech solution used successfully in nearby Cape Town is to position spotters, akin to lifeguards, to look out for sharks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
They rarely lose stray balls because spotters or fans always find them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 5, 2026
Kane and her fellow spotters publish the locations of officers and raids underway in an effort to document arrests and de-escalate the encounters with their presence.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
A few plane spotters gathered outside the airport to watch Air Force Two take off.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2025
On the roofs of the ambulances were spotters with binoculars.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
