Implication or alias? Audience --> Crowd

Audience should be aliased to crowd, or at the very least audience should have crowd implicated.

There is overlap, but the two concepts are different and can be depicted in situations where one is not the other. Not all crowds are spectating an event, a crowd crossing the street at a busy intersection for example. Audiences are also not always crowds of people, for example a image showing a person performing to an audience where most of the seats are empty because they're unpopular.

NWF_Renim said:

There is overlap, but the two concepts are different and can be depicted in situations where one is not the other. Not all crowds are spectating an event, a crowd crossing the street at a busy intersection for example. Audiences are also not always crowds of people, for example a image showing a person performing to an audience where most of the seats are empty because they're unpopular.

True, but how many images are tagged with audience where it's only one or two people? Besides, you are incorrect. It wouldn't be an audience if it was only a few people, then they would just be spectators.

Setsunator said:

Besides, you are incorrect. It wouldn't be an audience if it was only a few people, then they would just be spectators.

There was never a limit like that to ever use the word, so I don't believe I could be incorrect about this.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

audience - simple definition

• 1: a group of people who gather together to listen to something (such as a concert) or watch something (such as a movie or play) : the people who attend a performance

audience - full definition

• 3:
• a: a group of listeners or spectators
• b: a reading, viewing, or listening public

Oxford Dictionaries - British English:

• 1: The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event such as a play, film, concert, or meeting:
• 'he asked for questions from members of the audience'

Oxford Dictionaries - US English:

• 1: The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event, such as a play, movie, concert, or meeting:
• 'the orchestra was given an enthusiastic ovation from the audience'

Merriam-Webster uses a group, but defines a group as a "number of people", not indicating a specific lower value. Oxford English Dictionary there doesn't even use a number, merely saying "assembled spectators", and thus again not stating it has to be a large number.

Setsunator said:

True, but how many images are tagged with audience where it's only one or two people?

I never stated only one or two people. 3 people is also hardly a crowd, but it would certainly be a "group" and if they're watching someone perform, then it is an audience.

post #2246788 isn't currently tagged as either is currently tagged with crowd (didn't see it yesterday, lol), yet I think it might be a good example where audience might apply, but crowd does not - when only a small group of spectators is depicted.

As long as we're discussing these two tags, I feel it's worth mentioning the people tag as well. It has fewer than 100 posts and appears to be basically the same as crowd.

I don't think I'd use the crowd tag in the majority of the pictures that are tagged with people. For the most part the tag actually seems to be used for images with a few indistinct individuals in the background. Stuff like post #2069715, or on the street in post #2162428, or the bottom left panel of post #953395. None of those are crowds.