| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| spectacle |
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| SYLLABICATION: | spec·ta·cle |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  sp k t -kl |
| NOUN: | 1a. Something that can be seen or viewed, especially something of a remarkable or impressive nature. b. A public performance or display, especially one on a large or lavish scale. c. A regrettable public display, as of bad behavior: drank too much and made a spectacle of himself. 2. spectacles a. A pair of eyeglasses. b. Something resembling eyeglasses in shape or suggesting them in function. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old French, from Latin spect culum, from spectre, to watch, frequentative of specere, to look at. See spek- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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