Definition of "audience"

audience

/ˈɔːdɪəns/

noun
plural audiences
1. A group of people within hearing; specifically, a large gathering of people listening to or watching a performance, speech, etc.
  Quotations
  One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, page 26
2. (now rare) Hearing; the condition or state of hearing or listening.
  Quotations
  WHen he had ended all his ſayingꝭ in the audience of the people / he entred ĩto Capernaum.
  1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], Luke vij:, folio lxxxiiij, verso
3. A widespread or nationwide viewing or listening public, as of a TV or radio network or program.
4. A formal meeting with a state or religious dignitary.
  Quotations
  Captain Anderson: Sounds like you convinced the Council to give us an audience.Ambassador Udina: They were not happy about it. Saren's their top agent. They don't like him being accused of treason.
  2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Citadel
5. The readership of a book or other written publication.
6. A following.
7. (historical) An audiencia (judicial court of the Spanish empire), or the territory administered by it.