audience
See also: audiencë
English
Etymology
From Middle English audience, from Middle French audience, from Old French audience, from Latin audientia, from present participle audiens (“hearing”), from verb audio (“I hear”). Doublet of audiencia.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɔːdɪəns/
Audio (UK) (file) - (US) IPA(key): /ˈɔdiəns/, /ˈɑdiəns/
Audio (USA) (file)
Noun
audience (plural audiences)
- A group of people within hearing; specifically, a large gathering of people listening to or watching a performance, speech, etc. [from 15th c.]
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:
- One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
- We joined the audience just as the lights went down.
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- (now rare) Hearing; the condition or state of hearing or listening. [from 14th c.]
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], OCLC 762018299, (please specify the book of the Bible):
- When he had ended all his sayinges in the audience of the people, he entred into Capernaum.
-
- A widespread or nationwide viewing or listening public, as of a TV or radio network or program.
- A formal meeting with a state or religious dignitary. [from 16th c.]
- She managed to get an audience with the Pope.
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Citadel:
- Captain Anderson: Sounds like you convinced the Council to give us an audience.
Ambassador Udina: They were not happy about it. Saren's their top agent. They don't like him being accused of treason.
- The readership of a book or other written publication. [from 19th c.]
- "Private Eye" has a small but faithful audience.
- A following. [from 20th c.]
- The opera singer expanded his audience by singing songs from the shows.
- (historical) An audiencia (judicial court of the Spanish empire), or the territory administered by it.
Usage notes
- In some dialects, audience is used as a plurale tantum.
- The audience are getting restless.
Synonyms
- hearership, listenership
- (large gathering of people watching a performance): spectators, crowd
Derived terms
- audience left
- audience-proof
- audience right
- audience wave
- captive audience
- inherited audience
- intended audience
- target audience
- viewing audience
Related terms
- audition
Translations
group of people seeing a performance
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readership of a written publication
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formal meeting with a dignitary
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following
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Further reading
audience on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - Audience (meeting) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
French
Etymology
From Old French audience, borrowed from Latin audientia, from present participle audiens (“hearing”), from verb audio (“I hear”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /o.djɑ̃s/
audio (file)
Noun
audience f (plural audiences)
- audience, viewer
- Synonyms: attention, entretien, séance
Derived terms
- salle d'audience
Related terms
- audimat
- audimètre
- auditeur, auditrice
- audition
- auditoire
Further reading
- “audience”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from English audience, from Latin audientia, derived from audiēns, present active participle of audiō (“to hear, listen to”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɔ.djens/, /ˈo.djens/[1]
- Rhymes: -ɔdjens, -odjens
- Hyphenation: au‧dience
Noun
audience f (uncountable)
- audience (widespread or nationwide viewing or listening public)
Related terms
- udienza
References
- audience in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)