spectacular
/spɛkˈtæk.jə.lɚ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.06 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Relating to spectacles, or glasses for the eyes.
noun
A spectacular display.
Example Sentences
- "The parachutists were spectacular."
- "A branch of rail transport that seems to been rather neglected by historians is that concerned with cliff railways, of which a fair number exist in Great Britain. This is probably because these lines are overshadowed by the more spectacular funicular railways in Switzerland and other mountainous regions; perhaps, too, because of the general habit of referring to them as "cliff lifts," which tends to associate them with the vertical indoor type."
- "Between 8 and 9 p.m., the recorder at a meteorological station at Harrow, Middlesex, picked up 1,470 lightning flashes within a radius of 10 to 15 miles, and observers at the station described the storm as "probably one of the most spectacular of the century.""
- "the merely spectacular"
- "The like clamour, and outcry, the Rabble of the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles made againſt Polycarp Biſhop of Smyrna, at the time of his Martyrdom. crying out againſt him to the Governour, that he ſhould caſt him to the Lyons, and when he anſwered them he could not, becauſe the Spectacular ſports were concluded, then they cry’d out, Burn him, burn him, juſt as the Jews cryed out againſt Chriſt to Pilate, Crucify him, crucify him."
- "Those apparently insignificant events which really make history are seldom featured in the press; the merely spectacular too frequently crowds the essential out of the public sheets."
Etymology
Word Breakdown
- Root: *speḱ-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /spɛkˈtæk.jə.lɚ/
- British English: /spɛkˈtæk.jʊ.lə/