spectacleとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English spectacle, from French spectacle, from Latin spectāculum (“a show, spectacle”), from spectō (“to see, behold”), frequentative of speciō (“to see”). See species.

発音

• IPA^(key): /ˈspɛktəkl̩/
• ハイフネーション: spec‧ta‧cle

名詞

spectacle (複数形 spectacles)

1. An exciting or extraordinary scene, exhibition, performance etc.

   The horse race was a thrilling spectacle.

   • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games[1]

     In movie terms, it suggests Paul Verhoeven in Robocop/Starship Troopers mode, an R-rated bloodbath where the grim spectacle of children murdering each other on television is bread-and-circuses for the age of reality TV, enforced by a totalitarian regime to keep the masses at bay.

2. An embarrassing or unedifying scene or situation.

   He made a spectacle out of himself.

3. (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.
4. (figuratively) An aid to the intellectual sight.
   • (Can we date this quote by Chaucer かつ provide title, author's full name, かつ other details?)

     Poverty a spectacle is, as thinketh me, Through which he may his very friends see.

5. (obsolete) A spyglass; a looking-glass.
6. The brille of a snake.
7. (rail transport) 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.

同意語

• (exciting event): show; pageant
• (optical instrument): glasses, eyeglasses, specs

関連する語

• species
• spectacular
• speculate

Further reading

• spectacle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• spectacle in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• Railway semaphore signal on Wikipedia.