spectacle Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun something or someone seen (especially a notable or unusual sight)
- the tragic spectacle of cripples trying to escape
noun an elaborate and remarkable display on a lavish scale
noun a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase `make a spectacle of' yourself

F., fr. L. spectaculum, fr. spectare to look at, to behold, v. intens. fr. specere. See Spy.

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.
A spy-glass; a looking-glass. Obs.
Poverty a spectacle is, as thinketh me, Through which he may his very friends see. Chaucer.
pl. 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.
pl. Fig.: An aid to the intellectual sight.
Shakespeare . . . needed not the spectacles of books to read nature. Dryden.
Syn. -- Show; sight; exhibition; representation; pageant.