watcher

[woch-er]

See more synonyms for watcher on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who watches or who keeps watch.
an analytic observer of trends, fashions, events, celebrities, or the like: Fashion watchers will have noted that pleats have become popular again.
a professional or experienced observer and analyst of political and historic trends and events, countries, or the like: China watchers in the State Department predict a change in that country's trade policy.

poll watcher.

Origin of watcher

First recorded in 1500–10; watch + -er¹

Related formsun·der·watch·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for watcher

onlooker, sentinel, keeper, guard, sentry, watchman, spectator, witness

Examples from the Web for watcher

Contemporary Examples of watcher

Being a novice Syrian War watcher, I assumed the regime had returned in force.
Watching ISIS Come to Power Again
Elliot Ackerman
September 7, 2014
To many a Mideast watcher, then, the supposed policy shift could be dismissed as Bandar rantings.
Saudi Fears and Mysteries
Leslie H. Gelb
October 24, 2013

Historical Examples of watcher

But the men were talking, and the watcher strained to catch their words.
The Law-Breakers
Ridgwell Cullum
It is a watcher more than a doer, and it is a doer, only that it may the better watch.
Nature
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The watcher grunted again as he saw that this man was also masked.
The Coyote
James Roberts
Often on starry nights he would be a watcher of the heavens.
War Letters of a Public-School Boy
Paul Jones.
He was alone now, surely, save for that watcher in the bushes.
Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer
Cyrus Townsend Brady

British Dictionary definitions for watcher

watcher

noun

a person who watches
a person who maintains a vigil at the bedside of an invalid
US a representative of a candidate or party stationed at a poll on election day to watch out for fraud

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for watcher

late 14c. (early 13c. as a surname), agent noun from watch (v.).