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

For a listener, this can feel like stumbling into a room where something interesting is happening. —Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 15 May 2026

By traversing sonic ground across its 10 tracks that transports listeners from the open expanses of Montana to the Mississippi Hill Country, Bingham and The Texas Gentlemen effectively weave a tapestry that knits together a throughline between foundational Americana genres. —Chris Barilla, PEOPLE, 15 May 2026

The issue wasn’t really whether one rock band had been fraudulently foisted on unsuspecting listeners. —Lane Brown, Vulture, 15 May 2026

Some musicians tell stories, and some inspire their listeners to dance, but blues singers, perhaps more than any other popular musical artists, express their feelings. —René Ostberg, Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1572, in the meaning defined above