onlooker

[ on-look-er, awn- ]
See synonyms for onlooker on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. spectator; observer; witness.

Origin of onlooker

1
1600–10; on + looker, after verb phrase look on

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use onlooker in a sentence

  • The intensity of this drama, however, being interior, caused little outward disturbance that casual onlookers need have noticed.

    The Wave | Algernon Blackwood
  • We gather from the expression, "without the slightest hitch," that not one of the onlookers made any effort to save the lady.

  • They were simply onlookers; they were unarmed, and were merely there to witness the queen's punishment.

  • All around the base of the mound ran a processional road, so that their majesties could drive under the eye of the onlookers.

    Ways of War and Peace | Delia Austrian
  • Consumers stood gray and inconspicuous behind the two rows of uniformed men, silent, unsmiling, like onlookers at an accident.

    The Great Potlatch Riots | Allen Kim Lang

British Dictionary definitions for onlooker

onlooker

/ (ˈɒnˌlʊkə) /


noun
  1. a person who observes without taking part

Derived forms of onlooker

  • onlooking, adjective

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