viewer
Americannoun
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a person or thing that views.
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a person who watches television, often a devotee of television or of a particular kind of television program.
a weekly show aimed at teenage viewers.
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any of various optical devices to facilitate viewing, especially one that is small and boxlike with a magnifying lens, and sometimes a light source, in which a photographic transparency may be viewed.
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an eyepiece or viewfinder.
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an official inspector of property, public works, or the like.
noun
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a person who views something, esp television
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any optical device by means of which something is viewed, esp one used for viewing photographic transparencies
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law a person appointed by a court to inspect and report upon property, etc
Other Word Forms
- nonviewer noun
- underviewer noun
- viewership noun
Etymology
Origin of viewer
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at view, -er 1
Vocabulary lists containing viewer
Media Literacy - Middle School
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Media Literacy - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The viewer follows five couples struggling to conceive as they attempt a three-month exercise in eliminating plastic from their lives.
From Slate • Apr. 16, 2026
In most movies in which a character is driven by revenge, the viewer is invited to share in that primal emotion.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
Horrible people acting horribly is always entertaining, to a point—the point being when the viewer recognizes he has become a voyeur.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
A prolonged absence or departure from the program would have disrupted viewer habits at a time when traditional TV is struggling to hold onto audiences who have a wide array of media choices.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026
Vitruvius described something like perspective painting, but the Renaissance invented a new combination of subjectivity and objectivity, the situated viewer and the vanishing point.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
