onlooker

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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

onlooker

/ˈɒnˌlʊkə/ UK
/ˈɔnˌlɵkə/ UK, British, Southern
/ˈɔnˌlʊkəɹ/
/ˈɑnˌlʊkəɹ/
/ˈɔnlʊkə/ Australia
/ˈɒnlʊkə/ New Zealand
[ˈɔ̟nlʊkə] ~ [ˈɞ̠nlʊkə] New Zealand
/ˈɒnlʉkəɻ/ Northern Ireland
/ˈɔnlʉkəɾ/ Scotland

Where it comes from

From on- (prefix meaning ‘at; on, upon’) + looker (“one that looks”), from the verb look on. Compare Old English onlōciend (“one who looks on or watches”), which did not survive into Middle English; forlookere was used in the latter language.

noun onlookers

One who looks on or watches, without becoming involved or participating; an observer, a spectator. I wasn’t involved in the fight; I was only an onlooker.
Similar: bystander, looker-on, watcher

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Cite this

MLA

"onlooker." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/onlooker. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

onlooker. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/onlooker

Chicago

"onlooker." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/onlooker.

BibTeX

@misc{onlooker_2026,
  title = {onlooker},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/onlooker},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}