onlooker

plural onlookers

1. One who looks on or watches, without becoming involved or participating; an observer, a spectator.

   I wasn’t involved in the fight; I was only an onlooker.

   5 more examples

   And as thei iudge of cheſe, ſo iudge thei of bokes. / On lokers on whiche, who that narowly lokes, / Maie loke for this: […]

   1550, John Heywood, “Of Bokes and Chese”, in An Hundred Epigrammes. […], London: […] Thomas Berthelet, →OCLC, signature [Cvi], recto

   [T]hough his spirits seemed strung up to a high pitch, his merriment was more the merriment of a cynical and amused onlooker than of one who responds to the gaiety of his companions.

   1912, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], chapter XIV, in The Unbearable Bassington, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company; […], →OCLC, page 256

   When the right-away was given, Driver Gibson would give a sonorous blast on Cardean's deep-toned hooter, and amid a flurry of swirling steam the train would move majestically out, with nearly half the city of Carlisle—or so it would appear—as onlookers on the platform.

   1945 May–June, Cecil J[ohn] Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 152

   As a result, while the train was being shunted at Bombay, the buffers became locked, producing a situation most intriguing for the onlookers, but exasperating for the exalted passengers and the unhappy railway authorities.

   1945 September–October, C[uthbert] Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 249

   Please allow me to adjust my pants / So that I may dance the good time dance / And put the onlookers and innocent bystanders into a trance

   2003 (date recorded), “The Mob Goes Wild” (0:00 from the start), in Neil Fallon (lyrics), Blast Tyrant (hard rock, stoner rock), performed by Clutch, New York, N.Y.: DRT Entertainment, published 23 March 2004, →OCLC

   Synonyms: bystander, looker-on, watcher