Spotlight

How to spell spotlight

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce spotlight

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does spotlight mean?

1. nounA strong, focused beam of light, or by extension the centre of public attention.
2. verbTo draw particular attention to something or to illuminate it with a focused beam.

Spotlight in a sentence

• noun

  The singer stepped into the spotlight as the band began to play.

• verb

  The report aims to spotlight the rising cost of housing.

• noun

  The scandal kept the company under the media spotlight for weeks.

• verb

  Organisers wanted to spotlight a few local charities at the event.

Where does spotlight come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound, joining the older words 'spot' and 'light'. 'Spot' first appears in Middle English as a word for a small mark or stain, and is thought to come from Middle Dutch or Low German 'spotte', or from a related Old Norse source, all carrying the idea of a small blemish or point. 'Light', meaning illumination, descends from the Old English 'leoht', a thoroughly Germanic word with cousins across the West Germanic languages. The two were welded together in the early twentieth century, around the era of stage and theatre lighting, to name a lamp that throws a narrow, concentrated circle of light onto a single performer or object. From that literal beam the figurative sense quickly grew: to be 'in the spotlight' is to be the focus of public attention. Because both halves are familiar everyday words, the spelling holds no real surprises beyond remembering it is written as one solid word.

How the word is built

• spot (a small mark or point)
• light (illumination)