n. 1. a body of onlookers that observes some performance, event, or activity – may be real or perceived. Unlike street crowds, audiences are usually restrained in manner. other individuals usually join deliberately and withdraw when the observed performance or activity is completed. Audiences are, in some cases, widely scattered, as in audiences for a television broadcast. 2. refers to the actual people reached by a communication, particularly when selected as the target of a persuasive message.
AUDIENCE: “The audience gasped when the therapist told the client what the root of his or her problems was.”