Spectacle

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. Something exhibited to view; usually, something presented to view as extraordinary, or as unusual and worthy of special notice; a remarkable or noteworthy sight; a show; a pageant; a gazingstock. O, piteous spectacle O, bloody times! Shak.

2. A spy-glass; a looking-glass. [Obs.] Poverty a spectacle is, as thinketh me, Through which he may his very friends see. Chaucer.

3. An optical instrument consisting of two lenses set in a light frame, and worn to assist sight, to obviate some defect in the organs of vision, or to shield the eyes from bright light.

4. Fig.: An aid to the intellectual sight. Shakespeare . . . needed not the spectacles of books to read nature. Dryden.

Synonyms: Show; sight; exhibition; representation; pageant.