- the group of spectators at a public event; listeners or viewers collectively, as in attendance at a theater or concert: The audience was respectful of the speaker's opinion.
- the persons reached by a book, radio or television broadcast, etc.; public: Some works of music have a wide and varied audience.
- a regular public that manifests interest, support, enthusiasm, or the like; a following: Every art form has its audience.
- opportunity to be heard; chance to speak to or before a person or group; a hearing.
- a formal interview with a sovereign, high officer of government, or other high-ranking person: an audience with the pope.
- the act of hearing, or attending to, words or sounds.
Origin of audience
Examples from the Web for audience
The best comparison here for an American audience is, well, Internet stuff.Trolls and Martyrdom: Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie
January 9, 2015
Conway says the audience is asked to vote all the way through the show.Harry’s Daddy, and Diana’s ‘Murder’: Royal Rumors In a New Play
January 4, 2015
When the audience laughed he added that, “They think freedom would benefit them but they were cheated.”50 Shades of Iran: The Mullahs’ Kinky Fantasies about Sex in the West
IranWire, Shima Sharabi
January 1, 2015
Sting took over the lead role to try to draw an audience, but his thumpingly inspirational score was already the hero of the show.Hedwig, Hugh & Michael Cera: 12 Powerhouse Theater Performances of 2014
December 31, 2014
We brought in Don Lemon, the year that he wrote his book, and I told that story to the audience that was there.
The moment a man begins to be conscious of an audience he is artistically damned.Ballads of a Bohemian
Robert W. Service
Then I as much dreaded the audience as I had wished for it before.Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
The audience are variously affected; but none are indifferent.Biographical Sketches
At any rate, we have ample evidence of the turbulence of the early Roman audience.
Aside to audience in comic despair, with appropriate gesture.
- a group of spectators or listeners, esp at a public event such as a concert or play
- the people reached by a book, film, or radio or television programme
- the devotees or followers of a public entertainer, lecturer, etc; regular public
- an opportunity to put one's point of view, such as a formal interview with a monarch or head of state
Word Origin and History for audience
late 14c., "the action of hearing," from Old French audience, from Latin audentia "a hearing, listening," from audientum (nominative audiens), present participle of audire "to hear," from PIE compound *au-dh- "to perceive physically, grasp," from root *au- "to perceive" (cf. Greek aisthanesthai "to feel;" Sanskrit avih, Avestan avish "openly, evidently;" Old Church Slavonic javiti "to reveal"). Meaning "formal hearing or reception" is from late 14c.; that of "persons within hearing range, assembly of listeners" is from early 15c. (French audience retains only the older senses). Sense transferred 1855 to "readers of a book." Audience-participation (adj.) first recorded 1940.