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

Instead of forcing users into a loud chat sidebar to ask for recommendations, the app uses AI to examine your favorite songs, genres, artists — as well as listeners with similar tastes. — Vinay Kuruvila, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

The chorus rises into a falsetto that can carry urgency, comfort, and humor before a listener understands a single word. — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2026

Redditors have been mulling over whether Saint Vice, a BookTok favorite with 680,000 monthly listeners, is AI. — Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 25 June 2026

Recorded throughout the book tour for On Morrison—Serpell’s electrifying, critical examination of Morrison’s writing—each episode welcomes listeners into rooms full of readers and discussions of how Morrison made her words sing. — Literary Hub, 25 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1572, in the meaning defined above