spectator

UK: /spɛkˈteɪtə^r/

US: /ˈspɛkteɪtɚ, spɛkˈteɪ-/

US: (spek′tā tər, spek tā′-)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

spec•ta•tor /ˈspɛkteɪtɚ, spɛkˈteɪ-/   n. [countable]

1. one who watches;
   an onlooker;
   observer.
2. a member of the audience at a public spectacle, display, etc.:
   We asked the spectators what they thought of the parade.

See -spec-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

spec•ta•tor  (spek′tā tər, spek tā′-), n. 

1. a person who looks on or watches; onlooker;
   observer.
2. a person who is present at and views a spectacle, display, or the like;
   member of an audience.
3. Clothing Also called spec′tator shoe′. a white shoe with a perforated wing tip and back trim, traditionally of dark brown, dark blue, or black but sometimes of a lighter color.

• Latin spectātor, equivalent. to spectā(re), frequentative of specere to look, regard + -tor -tor
• 1580–90

spec•ta•to•ri•al  (spek′tə tôr′ē əl, -tōr′-), adj. 
Spectator, The, 

1. Journalism a weekly periodical (1711–12, 1714) issued by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

spectator / spɛkˈteɪtə/ noun

1. a person viewing anything; onlooker; observer

Etymology: 16th Century: from Latin, from spectāre to watch; see spectacle