audience
See also: audiencë
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
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.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
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:
- 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.
- (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, (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, 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 notesEdit
- In some dialects, audience is used as a plurale tantum.
- The audience are getting restless.
SynonymsEdit
- hearership, listenership
- (large gathering of people watching a performance): spectators, crowd
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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
- 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 readingEdit
audience on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - Audience (meeting) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French audience, borrowed from Latin audientia, from present participle audiens (“hearing”), from verb audio (“I hear”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
audience f (plural audiences)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “audience”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
ItalianEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from English audience, from Latin audientia, derived from audiēns, present active participle of audiō (“to hear, listen to”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
audience f (uncountable)
- audience (widespread or nationwide viewing or listening public)
Related termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ audience in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)