Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Audience
1.
The act of hearing; attention to sounds.
Thou, therefore, give due
audience
, and attend. Milton.
2.
Admittance to a hearing; a formal interview, esp. with a sovereign or the head of a government, for conference or the transaction of business.
According to the fair play of the world,
Let me have
Let me have
audience
: I am sent to speak. Shakespeare
3.
An auditory; an assembly of hearers. Also applied by authors to their readers.
Fit
audience
find, though few. Milton.
He drew his
audience
upward to the sky. Dryden.
Court of audience
, or
Audience court
(Eng.)
, a court long since disused, belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury; also, one belonging to the Archbishop of York.
Mozley & W.
– In general
(or open
) audience
publicly.
– To give audience
, to listen; to admit to an interview.
Webster 1828 Edition
Audience
AUD'IENCE
, n.1.
The act of hearing, or attending to sounds.His bold discourse had audience.
2.
Admittance to a hearing; public reception to an interview; a ceremony observed in courts, or by official characters, when ambassadors or applicants to men in office are permitted to appear and state their business in person.3.
An auditory; an assembly of hearers.4.
In the Spanish dominions, a court; as the audience of Seville, which is a court of oyer and terminer; and the audience pretorial, in the Indies, which is a high court of judicature. The word in Spain also signifies certain law-officers, appointed to institute a judicial inquiry.5.
In England, a court held by the arch-bishop of Canterbury, on the subject of consecrations, elections, institutions, marriages, &c.Definition 2024
audience
audience
See also: audiencë
English
Noun
audience (plural audiences)
- (now rare) Hearing; the condition or state of hearing or listening. [from 14th c.]
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke VII:
- When he had ended all his sayinges in the audience of the people, he entred into Capernaum.
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke VII:
- 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. B. Maxwell, chapter 3, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- 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.
-
- 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.
- 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.
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
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Related terms
Translations
group of people seeing a performance
|
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readership of a written publication
formal meeting with a dignitary
following
