Onlooker
noun
A person who watches something without taking part in it.
A crowd of onlookers gathered around the street performer.
Often appears as...
- curious onlooker
- crowd of onlookers
noun
A person who watches something without taking part in it.
A crowd of onlookers gathered around the street performer.
Often appears as...
- curious onlooker
- crowd of onlookers
Definition 1 of 1
Pro Tip 1/3Passive Role
An onlooker usually observes an event without influencing it directly.
As the argument escalated, I remained an onlooker, not wanting to get involved.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Involved
'Onlooker' implies no responsibility or participation in the ongoing situation.
The onlookers at the parade simply watched the floats go by.
Pro Tip 3/3Physical Presence
Onlookers are usually physically present at the location of the event.
Onlookers at the scene of the accident provided details to the police.
Pro Tip 1/3Passive Role
An onlooker usually observes an event without influencing it directly.
As the argument escalated, I remained an onlooker, not wanting to get involved.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Involved
'Onlooker' implies no responsibility or participation in the ongoing situation.
The onlookers at the parade simply watched the floats go by.
Pro Tip 3/3Physical Presence
Onlookers are usually physically present at the location of the event.
Onlookers at the scene of the accident provided details to the police.
Pro Tip 1/3Passive Role
An onlooker usually observes an event without influencing it directly.
As the argument escalated, I remained an onlooker, not wanting to get involved.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Involved
'Onlooker' implies no responsibility or participation in the ongoing situation.
The onlookers at the parade simply watched the floats go by.
Pro Tip 3/3Physical Presence
Onlookers are usually physically present at the location of the event.
Onlookers at the scene of the accident provided details to the police.
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Video examples
Malaysian Green Turtles...
but it's only after dark that the adult turtles reveal themselves crawling out of the sea and laying their eggs to the delight of the onlookers the visitors pay good money for the privilege of washing the turtles at close quarters
Video examples
Why is Vermeer's "Girl...
a drawn curtain often emphasizes the separation. We can witness a milkmaid serenely pouring a bowl of milk, but that milk isn't for us. We're only onlookers. The studied composition in Vermeer's paintings
Video examples
Wicca PIPE National...
the raven in the rose coven seizes the opportunity to march proudly through the streets their public walk shows that prejudice is beginning to wane and reminds onlookers that the celebration of the earth
Video examples
Malaysian Green Turtles...
but it's only after dark that the adult turtles reveal themselves crawling out of the sea and laying their eggs to the delight of the onlookers the visitors pay good money for the privilege of washing the turtles at close quarters
Video examples
Why is Vermeer's "Girl...
a drawn curtain often emphasizes the separation. We can witness a milkmaid serenely pouring a bowl of milk, but that milk isn't for us. We're only onlookers. The studied composition in Vermeer's paintings
Video examples
Wicca PIPE National...
the raven in the rose coven seizes the opportunity to march proudly through the streets their public walk shows that prejudice is beginning to wane and reminds onlookers that the celebration of the earth
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
Miranda Hart
English Actress
If taking one-self seriously as a woman means committing to a life of grooming, pumicing, pruning and polishing one's exterior for the benefit of onlookers, then I may as well leave my unwieldy rucksack to the top of a bleak Scottish hill and make my home there under a stone, where I'll fashion shoes out of mud and clothes out of leaves.
Quote examples
Meghan O'Rourke
American Poet
Television has never known what to do with grief, which resists narrative: the dramas of grief are largely internal - for the bereaved, it is a chaotic, intense, episodic period, but the chaos is by and large subterranean, and easily appears static to the friendly onlooker who has absorbed the fact of loss and moved on.
Quote examples
James Van Der Beek
American Actor
I love New York City. Everyone is busy with their own lives - and no one is interested in some Hollywood celebrity walking past in downtown Manhattan. That's why it's my favorite city. You can do what you want without attracting a crowd of curious onlookers.
Quote examples
Lisa McMann
American Author
Seriously, I dreamed that I was in my husband's dream, watching what he was dreaming about. Like, I was in his dream as an onlooker. It was so weird that I immediately wrote it down in the middle of the night. In the morning, it still sounded cool.
Quote examples
Robert Frank
Swiss Photographer
My photographs are not planned or composed in advance, and I do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind, something has been accomplished.
Quote examples
Steven Moffat
Scottish Writer
When you're surrounded by friends and exes, there's a whole lot of stuff that starts crawling out. But however serious and traumatic those experiences may be to the participant, to the onlooker they're hilarious.
Quote examples
Linda Colley
British Historian
Now, as in the past, rank is closely associated with modes of representation and display: with making an ordered arrangement of people or things visible and evident to onlookers in some fashion.
Quote examples
Paula Radcliffe
English Athlete
An Olympic medal won't define my whole life, although it might look like it to onlookers. When I look back, I should have been able to get an Olympic medal.
Quote examples
Esther Williams
American Actress
I took my daily swim at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool despite the presence of onlookers.
Quote examples
Miranda Hart
English Actress
If taking one-self seriously as a woman means committing to a life of grooming, pumicing, pruning and polishing one's exterior for the benefit of onlookers, then I may as well leave my unwieldy rucksack to the top of a bleak Scottish hill and make my home there under a stone, where I'll fashion shoes out of mud and clothes out of leaves.
Quote examples
Meghan O'Rourke
American Poet
Television has never known what to do with grief, which resists narrative: the dramas of grief are largely internal - for the bereaved, it is a chaotic, intense, episodic period, but the chaos is by and large subterranean, and easily appears static to the friendly onlooker who has absorbed the fact of loss and moved on.
Quote examples
James Van Der Beek
American Actor
I love New York City. Everyone is busy with their own lives - and no one is interested in some Hollywood celebrity walking past in downtown Manhattan. That's why it's my favorite city. You can do what you want without attracting a crowd of curious onlookers.
Quote examples
Lisa McMann
American Author
Seriously, I dreamed that I was in my husband's dream, watching what he was dreaming about. Like, I was in his dream as an onlooker. It was so weird that I immediately wrote it down in the middle of the night. In the morning, it still sounded cool.
Quote examples
Robert Frank
Swiss Photographer
My photographs are not planned or composed in advance, and I do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind, something has been accomplished.
Quote examples
Steven Moffat
Scottish Writer
When you're surrounded by friends and exes, there's a whole lot of stuff that starts crawling out. But however serious and traumatic those experiences may be to the participant, to the onlooker they're hilarious.
Quote examples
Linda Colley
British Historian
Now, as in the past, rank is closely associated with modes of representation and display: with making an ordered arrangement of people or things visible and evident to onlookers in some fashion.
Quote examples
Paula Radcliffe
English Athlete
An Olympic medal won't define my whole life, although it might look like it to onlookers. When I look back, I should have been able to get an Olympic medal.
Quote examples
Esther Williams
American Actress
I took my daily swim at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool despite the presence of onlookers.
Example 1 of 9
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