AUDIENCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does audience mean? 

• AUDIENCE (noun)
  The noun AUDIENCE has 4 senses:

1. a gathering of spectators or listeners at a (usually public) performance

2. the part of the general public interested in a source of information or entertainment

3. an opportunity to state your case and be heard

4. a conference (usually with someone important)

  Familiarity information: AUDIENCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AUDIENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A gathering of spectators or listeners at a (usually public) performance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

someone in the audience began to cough

Hypernyms ("audience" is a kind of...):

assemblage; gathering (a group of persons together in one place)

Meronyms (members of "audience"):

attender; auditor; hearer; listener (someone who listens attentively)

motion-picture fan; moviegoer (someone who goes to see movies)

playgoer; theatergoer; theatregoer (someone who attends the theater)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "audience"):

gallery (spectators at a golf or tennis match)

grandstand (the audience at a stadium or racetrack)

house (the audience gathered together in a theatre or cinema)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The part of the general public interested in a source of information or entertainment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

the broadcast reached an audience of millions

Hypernyms ("audience" is a kind of...):

hoi polloi; mass; masses; multitude; people; the great unwashed (the common people generally)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "audience"):

readership (the audience reached by written communications (books or magazines or newspapers etc.))

TV audience; viewers; viewing audience (the audience reached by television)

Holonyms ("audience" is a member of...):

populace; public; world (people in general considered as a whole)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An opportunity to state your case and be heard

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

audience; hearing

Context example:

he saw that he had lost his audience

Hypernyms ("audience" is a kind of...):

chance; opportunity (a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A conference (usually with someone important)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

audience; consultation; interview

Context example:

he requested an audience with the king

Hypernyms ("audience" is a kind of...):

conference; group discussion (a discussion among participants who have an agreed (serious) topic)

 Context examples 

After a few hours of waiting, when daylight had come, the audience and the dog with which he was to fight arrived.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

If, after doing so, one simply knocks out all the central inferences and presents one’s audience with the starting-point and the conclusion, one may produce a startling, though possibly a meretricious, effect.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The creative spirit in him flamed up at the thought and urged that he recreate this beauty for a wider audience than Ruth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"Snuffbox," said Jo, in a sepulchral tone, which convulsed the audience.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Professor Challenger fell back into his chair with his face buried in his hands, while the audience gave one long, deep sigh of relief as they realized that the incident was over.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These words from a man as popular as Aylward decided many of the waverers, and a shout of approval burst from his audience.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now, sir, I suggest that you take no notice of this addition to your audience, and that you proceed with your narrative exactly as you would have done had you never been interrupted.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His audience was riveted by the old prize-fighter’s story.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Forms of creative activity that involve performance before an audience (e.g., drama, dance, music).

(Performing Arts, NCI Thesaurus)

The Journal endeavors to appeal to a broad, multidisciplinary audience.

(Journal of the National Cancer Institute, NCI Thesaurus)