listener

noun

lis·​ten·​er ˈli-sᵊn-ər 

ˈlis-nər

plural listeners

: one who listens to someone or something

a radio program with many listeners

a friend who's a good listener [=who listens attentively and sympathetically]

Fanny, being always a very courteous listener, and often the only listener at hand, came in for the complaints and distresses of most of them.

—Jane Austen

The average concertgoer drifts in and out of the music, often losing the thread. The listener can't always hear the music in the music, and tends to notice only the most obvious (usually the loudest) events.

—David Schiff

Examples of listener in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

At the same time, her 1990 compilation The Immaculate Collection and her 2022 remix effort Finally Enough Love both reenter as listeners revisit her older work alongside her latest offering. —Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025

Though some futuristic progenitors didn’t make the original project (there’s still time for a deluxe), many listeners are celebrating the project as a cross-generational mesh of Atlanta greatness. —Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2025

The morning weather report comes from four people around the Alleghenies; a regular listener also sends dispatches from a mountain in Taiwan. —Oliver Whang, New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2025

There was a case with a moderately popular rock band (~1M monthly listeners on Spotify) that was AI generated. —Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1572, in the meaning defined above