Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that looks on; a spectator or bystander.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A spectator; someone looks on or watches, without becoming involved or participating.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • If it were at all a likeness, the woman who gazed frankly out upon the onlooker from the card-mount must have been a striking creature indeed.

    SEMPER IDEM 2010

  • Reading as an onlooker is such a treat and Elizabeth Baines positions the fulcrum of each story with absolute precision and then, with the most feather-weight whispers, proceeds to tip the balance of power first one way then the next.

    47 entries from February 2008 2008

  • Reading as an onlooker is such a treat and Elizabeth Baines positions the fulcrum of each story with absolute precision and then, with the most feather-weight whispers, proceeds to tip the balance of power first one way then the next.

    Balancing on the Edge of the World 2008

  • Reading as an onlooker is such a treat and Elizabeth Baines positions the fulcrum of each story with absolute precision and then, with the most feather-weight whispers, proceeds to tip the balance of power first one way then the next.

    Balancing on the Edge of the World 2008

  • Motives matter greatly, however, in onlooker judgments about acts of terrorism.

    Think Progress » Bush Meets Privately With Think Tank Promoting Military Strike On Iran 2006

  • Unless some sober onlooker is keeping track for you (or a guy with an iron bladder takes it very seriously), chances are you're going to lose track of what number you're on when someone goes to the bathroom.

    A Very Manly Game 2005

  • If it were at all a likeness, the woman who gazed frankly out upon the onlooker from the card-mount must have been a striking creature indeed.

    Semper Idem 1911

  • Most infuriating to the onlooker was the fact that Minto Mrs. Moore never gave the faintest hint of gratitude: indeed she regarded herself as J's benefactor: presumably on the grounds that she had rescued him from the twin evils of bachelordom and matrimony at one fell swoop!

    On Mrs. Moore Arevanye 2006

  • Most infuriating to the onlooker was the fact that Minto Mrs. Moore never gave the faintest hint of gratitude: indeed she regarded herself as J's benefactor: presumably on the grounds that she had rescued him from the twin evils of bachelordom and matrimony at one fell swoop!

    Archive 2006-01-01 Arevanye 2006

  • He was a trick rider, and all the spectacular feats that appealed to the onlooker were his.

    Wyoming, a Story of the Outdoor West William MacLeod Raine 1912

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