audience

audience
au‧di‧ence S2 W2 /ˈɔːdiəns $ ˈɒː-, ˈɑː-/ noun1. [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.
     

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.
     

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.
     

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. | Since the police interview, she had changed her statement. | 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. | 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.