the.com/onlooker
Someone who showed up for the outcome but not the effort.
means A person who watches something happen without taking part in it.
from A straightforward compound from 'on' plus 'look' plus the agent suffix '-er' — literally one who looks on. It emerged in English in the 1600s, built the same practical way words like 'bystander' were: by nailing a spectator's posture into a noun.
- etymology
- literally one who looks on
- role
- present, witnessing, contributing nothing
- crowd physics
- multiplies instantly when something goes wrong
- accountability
- zero, by definition