SPECTACLE
spectacle
(noun) a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase āmake a spectacle ofā yourself
spectacle
(noun) an elaborate and remarkable display on a lavish scale
spectacle
(noun) something or someone seen (especially a notable or unusual sight); āthe tragic spectacle of cripples trying to escapeā
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
spectacle (plural spectacles)
An exciting or extraordinary scene, exhibition, performance etc.
An embarrassing or unedifying scene or situation.
(usually, in the plural) An optical instrument consisting of two lenses set in a light frame, and worn to assist sight, to obviate some defect in the organs of vision, or to shield the eyes from bright light.
(figuratively) An aid to the intellectual sight.
(obsolete) A spyglass; a looking-glass.
The brille of a snake.
(rail) A frame with different coloured lenses on a semaphore signal through which light from a lamp shines at night, often a part of the signal arm.
Synonyms
• (exciting event): show; pageant
• (optical instrument): glasses, eyeglasses, specs
Source: Wiktionary
Spec"ta*cle, n. Etym: [F., fr. L. spectaculum, fr. spectare to look at, to behold, v. intens. fr. specere. See Spy.]
1. Something exhibited to view; usually, something presented to view as extraordinary, or as unusual and worthy of special notice; a remarkable or noteworthy sight; a show; a pageant; a gazingstock. O, piteous spectacle O, bloody times! Shak.
2. A spy-glass; a looking-glass. [Obs.] Poverty a spectacle is, as thinketh me, Through which he may his very friends see. Chaucer.
3. pl.
Definition: An optical instrument consisting of two lenses set in a light frame, and worn to assist sight, to obviate some defect in the organs of vision, or to shield the eyes from bright light.
4. pl.
Definition: Fig.: An aid to the intellectual sight. Shakespeare . . . needed not the spectacles of books to read nature. Dryden.
Syn.
– Show; sight; exhibition; representation; pageant.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
13 March 2025
ACCURATE
(adjective) conforming exactly or almost exactly to fact or to a standard or performing with total accuracy; āan accurate reproductionā; āthe accounting was accurateā; āaccurate measurementsā; āan accurate scaleā
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