Listen to the author reading this blog post.
by Kate Woodford
If, like me, you spent your spare time last month watching the Winter Olympics, you’ll know how exciting it was. I enjoyed everything about it. When I wasn’t watching the events or admiring the fabulous scenery, I was looking at the spectators as they cheered for (=encouraged by shouting at) their country’s sportsmen and women. This post looks at the language we use to describe the behaviour of people who have come together to watch a sports event or an occasion such as a play or concert.
Let’s start with words for the group itself. People who are watching a film or play, or listening to a concert or speech are generally referred to as the audience. Those watching a sports game or outdoor event are spectators. Both can also be referred to as a crowd.
Everyone in the audience stood up and cheered.
The event was watched by over 40,000 spectators.
The crowd roared as he walked on stage.
So what do audiences and spectators do? When they hit their hands together repeatedly to make a sound that shows their enjoyment or approval, we say they clap or, slightly more formally, applaud.
The audience clapped politely.
We applauded enthusiastically after each song.
The noun related to ‘applaud’ is applause and there are a few useful collocations with this word. A short period of clapping is often called a round of applause. We say that a person or their comments are greeted with or met with applause. Rapturous or thunderous applause is extremely loud and enthusiastic:
Ladies and gentlemen, could we please have a round of applause for all our
speakers today?
He was greeted with polite applause.
She walked onto the field to rapturous applause.
Her comments were met with thunderous applause.
A formal word for applause is ovation. It is usually used in the phrase standing ovation, meaning an occasion when an audience stands up and claps in order to show that they are extremely pleased with a performance or speech:
He was given a standing ovation for his performance.
Of course, audiences and spectators don’t always show approval. If a person in a crowd heckles, or heckles a performer or speaker, they interrupt them by shouting negative remarks or questions, and someone who boos, or boos a performer or speaker shows their strong disapproval or dislike by making a loud, low ‘boo’ sound:
He was briefly heckled by a woman who shouted, ‘Shame on you!’
Fans started booing whenever he got the ball.
There are a few nice idioms on this theme. If people watching a performance or sporting event, etc. are on the edge of their seats, they are very excited and giving all their attention to what they are watching:
The last five minutes of the match were so tense – we were on the edge of our seats!
If the audience in a theatre or concert hall are silent because they are completely focused on what they are watching or listening to, you might say that you could hear a pin drop:
From the moment she came on stage, you could hear a pin drop.
If you say of a performance or occasion, There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, you mean a lot of people were emotional and crying in response to what they heard or saw:
By the time she’d finished the song, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
That concludes my post on audiences and spectators. I hope you picked up a word or two.
Some audience members do “jazz hand” which is a form of silent applause.
That form of silent applause had been developed by Deaf community around the world, and quickly spread to neurodivergent audience members.
Hi! This is a great addition to this set. Thank you!
Hi Kate:
Glad to observe the long shadow of “jazz hands”.
And that I could bring it to you.
If a majority audience were Deaf we would have to call them a “sourdience” [this is probably not a real word in French or in English – it comes from “sourd”]
[because “aud” refers to hearing – and there is a real word for being Hearing-centric – “audism”].
[it’s an informed formation because of words like “clairaudience” and “clairsentinence” and other clear-sense words used in the psychic and extrasensory perception world – stage audiences and entertainment is how the psychics spread their craft].
Another thing that audiences tend to do is “stir up the pot”
Or they go stirring the person on the stage or fellow members of the audience.
We call this person a “stirrer”.
During the Eurovision Song Contest this year there were a great many boos directed to certain countries.
I’m in the middle of preparing a lesson on sports and stumbled on the above…what a coincidence!
Yes, what a coincidence! I hope it contained some material that you could use?
Thanks for the article and the human-made audio reading it! I always look forward to finding a new one on the right side of the main dictionary page when I look up words every day 🙂
You’re welcome! I’m so pleased you’re finding our posts interesting!
Keep silent when you watching this sports performance game don’t make shouting over there 😔
It was very nice reading your post, and I just want to let you know how much I appreciated. The words and idioms you have used in your post, are words we use in our day- today conversations but little attention, according to my experience, is given to thier use and meaning. Using them in a real behavioral experience, makes sense for me. I have learnt something new today. Thank you so much for the efforts made in putting the piece of work together.
Interesting post Kate, I didn’t know the differences of those words.
Thank you! I’m glad you found it interesting!
I loved it! Pretty enlightening! Thanks!
You’re very welcome!
Excellent!
How kind – thank you!
I loved it! I found itreally useful,.presenting the vocabulary in context.
I’m so glad!
Leave tomorrow
Very inspiring and informative for an English learner from Taiwan. Thanks a lot!
It’s so encouraging to read comments like this! Thank you for taking the time.
very good
Thank you!
Thank you, it was really interesting and I learned a lot!
That’s great to read – thank you!