Onlook

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A person who watches an event or situation without being involved in it ; to view something while standing apart and not participating
2. Someone who views a scene from the outside without joining in ; to observe a happening passively without taking any part in it
3. A bystander who gazes at an occurrence from a distance ; to keep watch on something while remaining a detached witness

Etymology: "Onlook" is a plain compound: the prefix "on-" (meaning "on" or "upon") joined to "look". The word has a long pedigree in English, since its ancestor appears in Old English as "onlēċ", meaning "onlook, consideration, regard," a noun built the same way from the same parts. Old English also had the verb "onlōcian," which carries the same sense of looking on or upon something. The modern noun and verb keep close to that original idea of looking at something from a little outside it. A bystander who "onlooks" is simply someone whose gaze is directed upon an event rather than taking part in it, and the verb takes that same stance of watchful detachment and applies it to a deliberate act of observing.

Synonyms: spectator, observer, witness, watch