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

Some of his former viewers and listeners are deeply skeptical — of everything that conflicts with their preferred version of reality. —Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 19 May 2025

By 1945, an AFRS station in Munich reported that Opry superstar Roy Acuff was more popular among its listeners than Frank Sinatra. —Lindsay Kusiak, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 May 2025

TikTok doesn’t even register as a music discovery avenue for listeners 55 and up, where radio remains dominant. —Elias Leight, Billboard, 16 May 2025

That’s often true in the country space, and may especially be so when concerning one who might not align with the more conservative values held by many country radio listeners. —Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 16 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1572, in the meaning defined above