Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of the nature of a spectacle; impressive or sensational.
- n. Something that is spectacular, as:
- n. A single dramatic production of unusual length or lavishness.
- n. An elaborate display.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to or of the nature of a show or spectacle; marked or characterized by great display: as, a spectacular drama.
- Pertaining to spectacles or glasses for assisting vision.
Wiktionary
- adj. Amazing or worthy of special notice
- adj. dated Related to, or having the character of, a spectacle or entertainment
- adj. Relating to spectacles, or glasses for the eyes.
- n. A spectacular display.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to a shows; of the nature of a show.
- adj. Adapted to excite wonder and admiration by a display of pomp or of scenic effects
- adj. Pertaining to spectacles, or glasses for the eyes.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. sensational in appearance or thrilling in effect
- adj. characteristic of spectacles or drama
- adj. having a quality that thrusts itself into attention
- n. a lavishly produced performance
Etymologies
- From Latin spectaculum ("a sight, show") + -ar (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Another of what she calls her "spectacular failures" was a recent project for the Louvre in Paris.”
The Guardian: The Saturday interview: architect Amanda Levete
“The U.S. military says that while the insurgent groups like al Qaeda are on the run, they have not lost their capacity to not only run more detention centers or torture centers like this one to keep the local populations in check, but also to stage what they call spectacular attacks to bring more public attention to their cause.”
“ARENA: Well, I'll tell you that right now, the stance of the intelligence community is one of a lot of concern, only because the intelligence continues to suggest that al Qaeda is planning what they call a spectacular attack on U.S. soil.”
“The word 'spectacular' would be an understatement," one said.”
“We have leads," Baroin told Europe 1 radio, saying that what he called a "spectacular" attack was "probably the first time" that the French government's computer system had been hit on this scale.”
“In this instance, the word "spectacular" is not an exaggeration.”
“Besides losing both world wars in spectacular fashion, near total destruction in the thirty years war, being Napoleons personal chess board, and spending half of this past century partitioned and garrisoned by the competing superpowers, Germany has spent most of its history as a collection of small principalities under varying degrees of rule by Hapsburgs.”
“Too bad because those trips were in spectacular country.”
“Bigots like Cucci will flame out in spectacular “Ted Haggard” style.”
Think Progress » Cuccinelli: Homosexual ‘acts’ are a ‘detriment to our culture.’
“Osprey are another species that had been extirpated from my favorite haunts and came back, in spectacular fashion, once we stopped spraying DDT.”
Think Progress » Fifteen States Have Polluter-Driven Resolutions To Deny Climate Threat
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spectacular’.
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bbc uk china vocab.
conservationists, estimate, threats, infertility, eating away at, endangered, furry, panel, in trouble, gongs, triumphed, caps and 1007 more...
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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Tresgeek's TV Words List
Maybe it's a single-word catchphrase, maybe it's a word that evokes a particular episode, scene, or character, but if you watch as much television as I do, there are certain words you can't use in ...
fantastic, chlamydia, slap, seriously, bears, airlock, frack, spectacular, ah, bach!, yabba dabba do, that's all folks, warning! and 1 more...
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Overwhelming
Descriptive, emotional, powerful words.
delightful, wonderful, spectacular, great, fantastic, amazing, magnificent, inspiring, intense, brilliant, blatant, hilarious and 2 more...
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I am : grand
grand, majestic, splendid, splendorous, magnificent, august, austere, spectacular, wondrous, awesome, redoubtable, formidable and 30 more...
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My Favorite Words(:
These are all the words I LOVE! Some are real, some are made up, some are different languages. But I love em' all just the same!
sheath, spectacular, spectabulousarific, lovely, hola, silly, rice, nostalgia, lemons, jargon, strucken, perpendicular and 11 more...
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Rad Words.
Put any Rad word, any at all.
super, rad, awesome, amazing, cool, nerdfightastic, fantastic, spectacular, groovy, funky, dishy, sick and 5 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Vocabulary Words 2.
cow tow, evident, harassed, egalitarians, anomolous, tenuous, fondly, foment, construe, ingratiate, parlance, spectacular and 96 more...
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summerwing's Words
proctosigmoidoscopy, horrendous, cichlid, implode, nostalgic, firmament, elucidate, quintet, rhombus, mack, pithy, rambunctious and 304 more...
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reginaterra's Words
purl, blow, squish, andean, generality, adaptation, lush, pack, filter, acquiesce, abstraction, sweet and 508 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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quotato's Words
prospicience, appoggiatura, actually, thrum, nisus, univocal, eschatology, concupiscible, penury, psychedelic, vapid, braggadocio and 107 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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jagosaurus's favorites
Words I like mostly because of the way they sound and feel.
ticonderoga, petulance, snark, estimable, chickahominy, feline, gezellig, gneiss, shit, willy-nilly, shelter, coda and 366 more...
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beatricks's Words
tremendous, naiad, thrush, samsara, thronging, nascent, broom, aristeia, streak, susurrant, reverberate, resistentialism and 352 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for spectacular.
albertoprb When you use extreme adjectives, make sure you also add emphasis to your pronunciation:
The hiking was spectacular! Oct 12, 2012
yarb I'm sure the scientist would agree, perhaps in less florid language. Nov 3, 2009
hernesheir "Thank God for spectacular confusion says the poet to the scientist. May we all be liberated from certainty and its dark child: single vision. Let dichotomies flower everywhere and always." - Bill Holm, Eccentric Islands: Travels Real and Imaginary. Nov 3, 2009
whichbe Jenna's wedding was 'spectacular' May 11, 2008