Audience means the people watching or listening in a hall, and also the readers or buyers that something is aimed at: a target audience. A second, formal meaning is an official meeting with an important person: an audience with the King. The word refers only to people, never to a place: a room for lectures or lessons is a room, a classroom or a lecture hall.
audience: will you get the meaning right?
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a large/live/young + audience; in the audience; a target audience; an audience of + number; an audience with + important person
- The audience laughed so loudly that the actors had to stop for a moment.
- Before you prepare a presentation, think about your audience and what they already know.
- The festival drew an audience of over ten thousand people on the first night.
What changed
First versionThe lecture on marketing will be in audience 305 on the third floor.
RevisionThe lecture on marketing will be in room 305 on the third floor.
In some languages, one word covers both the people and the room, but English audience means only the people. A numbered teaching room is called a room: room 305. A large hall for lectures with rows of seats is a lecture hall or, in Britain, a lecture theatre.
In several languages, the word for spectators looks like public, but in English the public means people in general, the whole population: The museum is open to the public. The people sitting in a hall and watching a particular performance are the audience, and fans at a stadium are the crowd.
Your turn
At the end of the show, the comedian looked out at the ___ and asked if anyone had come from Manchester.
Show the answer
audience — The comedian is talking to the people in the hall who are watching his show, so you need audience. The public means the population of a city or country as a whole. From the stage you don't see the whole population, only a particular hall.
Think of a concert, play or performance you went to. Write what it was and how the audience reacted.
At my niece's school concert, the audience clapped so loudly after her piano solo that she turned red.
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