SPECTACLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does spectacle mean? 

• SPECTACLE (noun)
  The noun SPECTACLE has 3 senses:

1. something or someone seen (especially a notable or unusual sight)

2. an elaborate and remarkable display on a lavish scale

3. a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase 'make a spectacle of' yourself

  Familiarity information: SPECTACLE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPECTACLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something or someone seen (especially a notable or unusual sight)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

the tragic spectacle of cripples trying to escape

Hypernyms ("spectacle" is a kind of...):

sight (anything that is seen)

Derivation:

spectacular (having a quality that thrusts itself into attention)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An elaborate and remarkable display on a lavish scale

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("spectacle" is a kind of...):

display; presentation (a visual representation of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spectacle"):

bullfight; corrida (a Spanish or Portuguese or Latin American spectacle; a matador baits and (usually) kills a bull in an arena before many spectators)

naumachia; naumachy (a naval spectacle; a mock sea battle put on by the ancient Romans)

Derivation:

spectacular (characteristic of spectacles or drama)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase 'make a spectacle of' yourself

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("spectacle" is a kind of...):

bloomer; blooper; blunder; boner; boo-boo; botch; bungle; flub; foul-up; fuckup; pratfall (an embarrassing mistake)

 Context examples 

“Twenty Eight,” said a gentleman in spectacles, who had not yet spoken, “you complained last week, my good fellow, of the cocoa. How has it been since?”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

My hands, however, are a spectacle for grief.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And, indeed, though my mother's eyes are not so good as they were, she can see amazingly well still, thank God! with the help of spectacles.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Mr. Bhaer came in one evening to pause on the threshold of the study, astonished by the spectacle that met his eye.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was a terrible spectacle: I witnessed it myself.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The spectacle of her suffering convinced him that he had been a brute, yet in the soul of him he could not see how nor why.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The markings are quite definite and there are distinctive pale "spectacles" around the eyes.

(Keeshond, NCI Thesaurus)

Such a spectacle was new to Hordle John or to Alleyne Edricson; but the archer treated it lightly, as a common matter enough.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then he led them into his little room and locked the spectacles from the great box on all their eyes, just as he had done before.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)