watching
n. uncountablen. the act of looking at someone or something for a period of time. You use this when you are paying attention to an activity, like a movie or birds.
n. the act of observing or monitoring someone or something over a duration of time. Often used in compound nouns to describe specific hobbies or professional monitoring.
Bird watching is a very relaxing hobby.
The security team is responsible for the constant watching of the monitors to ensure the building remains safe.
While casual people-watching provides entertainment for many city dwellers, professional surveillance requires a much more disciplined and systematic approach to observing human behavior.
Frequently functions as the second element in compound nouns such as 'bird-watching', 'people-watching', or 'weight-watching'.