Spectacle

How to spell spectacle

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce spectacle

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does spectacle mean?

1. nounA striking or impressive sight, performance, or public display that draws attention.

Spectacle in a sentence

• The fireworks over the harbour were a dazzling spectacle.

• The opening ceremony was a carefully staged spectacle watched by millions.

Where does spectacle come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin spectaculum, which meant 'a show' or 'a public display', the kind of grand event staged in an arena for crowds to watch. That noun was built on the verb spectare, 'to watch or gaze at', itself a frequentative of specere, meaning 'to look'. English took the word in during the 1300s by way of Old French, keeping the sense of a striking sight put on for an audience. The same specere root quietly sits inside a large family of everyday words, including inspect, spectator, suspect, and respect, all of which involve some form of looking. Because the ending is the unusual -acle rather than the more familiar -ical, the spelling trips people up; remembering the spect- 'look' root and the spoken 'a-cle' ending helps fix it.

How the word is built

• spect- (from spectare, to watch or look at)
• -acle (noun suffix denoting a means or instrument)