peanut gallery

noun

1

: the upper balcony of a theater

Carnegie Hall was packed, the balconies rising row on row, full, even to the "peanut gallery."

—Lady Bird Johnson

also : a section of cheap seats in a theater or the group of spectators seated there

I don't even get to sit with Megan since she's real high society and I'm just her … fiancée. I'll be down in the peanut gallery with the low-lifes …

—John Ringo

2

: a group of critics or commentators likened to spectators in the cheap seats of a theater

But even so, last year's adaptation … reaped more backlash from critics than its pop-blockbuster excellence deserved. The peanut gallery didn't like director Gary Ross's handheld camerawork …

—Ross Douthat

The announcement that "The Inheritance of Loss" had won the Booker was met (as these announcements always are) with a few gripes from the peanut gallery in Britain.

—Dwight Garner

Examples of peanut gallery in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And to the social media peanut gallery calling for 5-star super freshman Julian Lewis, ask yourself this: How many times did Salter have to create an escape route all by himself? Lewis can move, sure. —Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 30 Aug. 2025

Piero’s peanut gallery consists of hot-blooded Eros (Claudio Santamaria), romantic-minded Romeo (Maurizio Lastrico), the rational yet reticent Professore (Marco Giallini) and a wild card called Valium (Rocco Papaleo), who’s the risk taker of the bunch. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 16 July 2025

Arnold, Azzi Fudd and Kayleigh Heckel had formed a peanut gallery behind the scrum, arms folded. —Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 28 June 2025

The online peanut gallery wasn't limited to American spectators. —Ivan Pereira, ABC News, 6 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for peanut gallery

• calorie
• galerie
• mallory
• salary