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Definition of Spectacle
1. Noun. Something or someone seen (especially a notable or unusual sight). "The tragic spectacle of cripples trying to escape"
2. Noun. An elaborate and remarkable display on a lavish scale.
Generic synonyms: Display, Presentation
Derivative terms: Spectacular
3. Noun. A blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase 'make a spectacle of' yourself.
Definition of Spectacle
1. n. 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.
Definition of Spectacle
1. Noun. 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 ¹
2. Noun. An exciting exhibition, performance or event. ¹
3. Noun. An embarrassing situation ¹
4. Noun. (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. ¹
5. Noun. (figuratively) An aid to the intellectual sight. ¹
6. Noun. (obsolete) A spyglass; a looking-glass. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Spectacle
1. [n -S]
Medical Definition of Spectacle
1. 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. "Poverty a spectacle is, as thinketh me, Through which he may his very friends see." (Chaucer) 3. 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. An aid to the intellectual sight. "Shakespeare . . . Needed not the spectacles of books to read nature." (Dryden) Synonym: Show, sight, exhibition, representation, pageant. Origin: F, fr. L. Spectaculum, fr. Spectare to look at, to behold, v. Intens. Fr. Specere. See Spy. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Spectacle
Literary usage of Spectacle
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Proceedings by Philadelphia County Medical Society (1891)
"The purpose of the spectacle-frame is to hold a pair of glasses before the eyes
in a definite position and with the least possible annoyance to the wearer. ..."
2. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1843)
"The subjects of Dioclesian enjoyed the bloody spectacle, and congratulated each
other, that the mischiefs of civil war were now experienced only by the ..."
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