watcher

American  

[woch-er] / ˈwɒtʃ ər /

noun

1. a person who watches or who keeps watch.

2. an analytic observer of trends, fashions, events, celebrities, or the like.

   Fashion watchers will have noted that pleats have become popular again.

3. a professional or experienced observer and analyst of political and historic trends and events, countries, or the like.

   China watchers in the State Department predict a change in that country's trade policy.

4. poll watcher.

---

ˈwatcher British  

/ ˈwɒtʃə /

noun

1. a person who watches

2. a person who maintains a vigil at the bedside of an invalid

3. a representative of a candidate or party stationed at a poll on election day to watch out for fraud

---

Other Word Forms

• underwatcher noun

Etymology

Origin of watcher

First recorded in 1500–10; watch + -er ¹

Example Sentences

There’s a theory many chart watchers subscribe to about how the roles of technical support and resistance can reverse.

From MarketWatch

Crude was still trading well above $100 a barrel, however, and market watchers said any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send prices to levels not seen for almost two decades.

From Barron's

Helium users, who mostly lock in supply through long-term contracts, are now scrambling for scarce short-term spot market cargoes, a bidding war that has caused prices to more than double, market watchers say.

From The Wall Street Journal

The looming trees —knowing watchers that they were—offered him no help, scraping and sighing in their secret language.

From Literature

Security watchers say these overlapping pressures have stretched security resources and complicated response efforts.

From BBC

Related Words

• onlooker