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[ noun ] something or someone seen (especially a notable or unusual sight)
Examples "the tragic spectacle of cripples trying to escape" Used in print (Frank Getlein and Harold C. Gardiner, S.J., Movies,...)Despite the sheer beauty and spectacle of numerous documentaries , art films , and travelogues , despite the impressive financial success of such a recent development as Cinerama , the movies are at_heart a form of fiction , like the play , the novel , or the short_story . (Howard Nemerov, "Themes and Methods: The Early...)His appearance as Lizzy evokes not amusement but horror in the audience ; it is a spectacle absolutely painful , an epiphany of the suffering flesh unredeemed by spirit , untouched by any spirit other_than abasement and humiliation . Life is further characterized , in antithesis to Piepsam , as animal : the image of a dog , which appears at several places , is first given as the criterion of amiable , irrelevant interest aroused by life considered simply as a spectacle : a dog in a wagon is `` admirable '' , `` a pleasure to contemplate '' ; another wagon has no dog , and therefore is `` devoid_of interest '' . (E. Lucas Myers, "The Vindication of Dr. Nestor,"...)The spectacle progressed towards a denouement which was obviously still remote ; the audience attended . Related terms |
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[ noun ] an elaborate and remarkable display on a lavish scale
Used in print (Chicago Daily Tribune...)It is truly odd and ironic that the most handsome and impressive film yet made from Miguel_de_Cervantes ' `` Don_Quixote '' is the brilliant Russian spectacle , done in wide_screen and color , which opened yesterday at the Fifty-fifth_Street and Sixty-eighth_Street_Playhouses . (The Providence Journal...)( Several times recently I have wondered whether shows were being staged for the sake of the script or just to entertain the audience with the spectacle of scenery being shifted right in_front_of their eyes . |
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[ noun ] a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase "make a spectacle of" yourself
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