spectacleとは

意味・読み方・使い方

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, worn to assist sight, or to protect the eyes from bright light.
4. (figuratively) Something that helps understanding.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wyfe of Bathes Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868:

     Povert' a spectacle is, as thinketh me, Through which he may his very friendes 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

派生語

• bespectacled
• counterspectacle
• make a public spectacle of oneself
• make a spectacle of oneself
• spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch
• superspectacle

関連する語

• species
• spectacular
• speculate

Further reading

• spectacle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Railway semaphore signal on Wikipedia.