spec·ta·cle

[spek-tuh-kuhl]
noun
1.
anything presented to the sight or view, especially something of a striking or impressive kind: The stars make a fine spectacle tonight.
2.
a public show or display, especially on a large scale: The coronation was a lavish spectacle.
3.
spectacles, eyeglasses, especially with pieces passing over or around the ears for holding them in place.
4.
Often, spectacles.
a.
something resembling spectacles in shape or function.
b.
any of various devices suggesting spectacles, as one attached to a semaphore to display lights or different colors by colored glass.
5.
Obsolete. a spyglass.
Idioms
6.
make a spectacle of oneself, to call attention to one's unseemly behavior; behave foolishly or badly in public: They tell me I made a spectacle of myself at the party last night.
00:10
Spectacles is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
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Origin:
1300–50; Middle English < Latin spectāculum a sight, spectacle, derivative of spectāre, frequentative of specere to look, regard. See -cle2

Related forms
spec·ta·cle·less, adjective
spec·ta·cle·like, adjective
su·per·spec·ta·cle, noun

Synonyms
1. marvel, wonder, sight, show.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To spectacles
Collins
World English Dictionary
spectacle (ˈspɛktəkəl) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  a public display or performance, esp a showy or ceremonial one
2.  a thing or person seen, esp an unusual or ridiculous one: he makes a spectacle of himself
3.  a strange or interesting object or phenomenon
4.  (modifier) of or relating to spectacles: a spectacle case
 
[C14: via Old French from Latin spectaculum a show, from spectāre to watch, from specere to look at]

spectacles (ˈspɛktəkəlz) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—pl n
1.  Often (informal) shortened to: specs a pair of glasses for correcting defective vision
2.  cricket pair of spectacles a score of 0 in each innings of a match

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

spectacle
mid-14c., "specially prepared or arranged display," from O.Fr. spectacle, from L. spectaculum "a show, spectacle," from spectare "to view, watch," frequentative form of specere "to look at," from PIE *spek- "to observe" (see scope (1)).

spectacles
"glass lenses to help a person's sight," early 15c., from pl. of spectacle.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

spectacles spec·ta·cles (spěk'tə-kəlz)
n.
See glass.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Example sentences
But as the spectacles get grander, the player's interaction with them lessens.
Under an electron microscope, however, they balloon into terrifying yet
  beautiful spectacles.
The ubiquity of digital spectacles and curiosities today is one reason
  performance art has had its thunder stolen.
Few spectacles in nature are more riveting than a sea lion feasting on a jumbo
  salmon.
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