au ‧ di ‧ ence S2 W2 /ˈɔːdiəns $ ˈɒː-, ˈɑː-/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: French ; Origin: Latin audientia 'hearing' , from audire ; ⇨ ↑ audio ]
1 . [countable also + plural verb] British English a group of people who come to watch and listen to someone speaking or performing in public:
The audience began clapping and cheering.
audience of
an audience of 250 business people
One member of the audience described the opera as ‘boring’.
2 . [countable also + plural verb] British English the people who watch or listen to a particular programme, or who see or hear a particular artist’s, writer’s etc work:
The show attracts a regular audience of about 20 million.
target audience (=the type of people that a programme, advertisement etc is supposed to attract)
Goya was one of the first painters to look for a wider audience for his work.
The book is not intended for a purely academic audience.
3 . [countable] a formal meeting with a very important person
audience with
He was granted an audience with the Pope.
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COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 1)
■ verbs
▪ perform/play to an audience
The band played to huge audiences in Mexico City and Buenos Aires.
▪ an audience laughs
He has the ability to make an audience laugh.
▪ an audience claps
Most of the audience clapped but a few people jeered.
▪ an audience cheers
The audience cheered loudly when he came on stage.
▪ the audience boos
She swore at the audience and they began to boo her.
■ adjectives
▪ a capacity/packed audience (=the largest number of people who can fit into a hall, theatre etc)
The lecture attracted a capacity audience.
▪ an enthusiastic audience
They drew enthusiastic audiences at Europe's biggest rock festival.
■ NOUN + audience
▪ stadium audiences
Celine Dion's tour continues to play to sold-out stadium audiences across Europe.
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COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 2)
■ verbs
▪ have an audience
The programme has a massive audience, ranging from children to grandparents.
▪ attract an audience (=make people want to watch)
The first show attracted a television audience of more than 2 million.
▪ reach an audience
For an advertiser who wants to reach a large audience, television news easily surpasses other news media.
▪ appeal to an audience (=be interesting to them)
They brought new fashions into their designs to appeal to a wider audience.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + audience
▪ a large/huge etc audience
Messages posted on the Internet can attract a huge audience.
▪ a wide audience
an author who commands a wide audience
▪ a worldwide audience
The game has an ever-increasing worldwide audience.
▪ a young/teenage audience
a magazine with a young audience
▪ an older audience
The programme mainly appeals to an older audience.
▪ a mass audience (=a very large number of people)
Radio brought entertainment to a mass audience.
▪ a television audience (=all the people who watch or listen to a particular programme)
Nearly half the UK television audience watched the programme last Tuesday.
▪ the target audience (=the type of people a programme etc aims to attract)
The target audience is mostly men aged 28 to 35.
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THESAURUS
▪ interview a meeting in which someone is asked questions, to find out if they are suitable for a job, or to help the police find out about a crime. Also used about someone being asked questions on TV, in a newspaper, in a magazine etc:
I’ve got another job interview tomorrow.
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Since the police interview, she had changed her statement.
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an interview with Keith Richards
▪ interrogation an occasion when someone is asked a lot of questions for a long time in order to get information, sometimes using threats, usually by the police or the army:
He claims he was tortured during his interrogation.
|
Police interrogation methods have been questioned.
▪ cross-examination an occasion when someone is asked questions about what they have just said, in order to see if they are telling the truth, especially in a court of law:
Under cross-examination, the only witness said she could not be sure about what she saw.
▪ consultation a meeting with a doctor or an expert to discuss treatment or to get advice:
The therapist charges $100 for a half hour consultation.
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Would you like to come back for another consultation?
▪ audience a formal meeting with a very important person:
He was granted an audience with the Pope.