From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishobserverob‧serv‧er /əbˈzɜːvə $ -ɜːrvər/ ●●○ noun [countable] 1 WATCHsomeone who regularly watches or pays attention to particular things, events, situations etcobserver of an observer of nature political observers Observers are predicting a fall in interest rates.2 CHECK/MAKE SUREsomeone who attends meetings, classes, events etc to check what is happening The UN sent observers to the peace talks. Independent observers monitored the elections.3 SEENOTICEsomeone who sees or looks at something reports from observers at sea and on dry landcasual observer (=someone looking at something but not very carefully) A casual observer would have guessed his age at 70.
Examples from the Corpus
observer• She's been sent as an observer to the UN aid conference.• Hundreds of astonished observers, including one with a movie camera, saw the fireball from Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks.• The official figure for the whole of June was 42 police and demonstrators killed; some foreign observers estimated up to 70 deaths.• But for a westward-going observer, the rightmost arrives first.• International observers criticized the use of military force in the region.• Aesop must have been a keen observer of natural animal rhythms.• Military observers have been allowed into the area to monitor the ceasefire.• Meehan and other observers give it little chance of making it out of Congress this year.• Most political observers believe that the president will now have to resign.• Political observers say Ball could still win the election.• The remote observer measures time intervals to be dilated and light to be red shifted.• The geography of Boiotia might to a shallow observer seem to suit her for naval hegemony.casual observer• While the Macintosh still possess all the benefits it seems, to a casual observer, to be an incompatible system.• To a casual observer water on a surface may appear to be in complete contact with it.• A casual observer on Van Ness the other day saw even younger adults have difficulty.• This is mostly due to the almost universal lowering of expectations among diehard fans and casual observers.• Even for casual observers the clues to its presence are abundant.• This is the sight which stays with even the casual observer.• But lately, to the casual observer, it would seem that the match is being interrupted, or at least expanded.• To the casual observer, the tide may seem to be the only movement of water in the estuary.Observer, TheThe ObserverObserver, The trademark a serious British Sunday newspaper which generally supports fairly left-wing political ideas. The Observer is owned by the same company that owns The Guardian. 