different between eyeglass vs spectacle

English

Etymology

eye +? glass

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?a???læs/

Noun

eyeglass (plural eyeglasses)

1. An artificial lens, especially one of a pair.
2. A monocle.
3. An eyepiece.
4. (obsolete) The lens of the eye.
   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale

     Ha' not you seen, Camillo? / (But that's past doubt; you have, or your eye-glass / Is thicker than a cuckold's horn)

Translations

Anagrams

• glass eye, glasseye

English

Etymology

From Middle English spectacle, from French spectacle, from Latin spect?culum (“a show, spectacle”), from spect? (“to see, behold”), frequentative of speci? (“to see”). See species.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sp?kt?kl?/
• Hyphenation: spec?ta?cle

Noun

spectacle (plural spectacles)

1. An exciting or extraordinary scene, exhibition, performance etc.
   • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games[1]

     In movie terms, it suggests Paul Verhoeven in Robocop/Starship Troopers mode, an R-rated bloodbath where the grim spectacle of children murdering each other on television is bread-and-circuses for the age of reality TV, enforced by a totalitarian regime to keep the masses at bay.

2. An embarrassing or unedifying scene or situation.

3. (usually in the plural) An optical instrument consisting of two lenses set in a light frame, worn to assist sight, or to protect the eyes from bright light.
4. (figuratively) Something that helps understanding.

   • Povert' a spectacle is, as thinketh me, Through which he may his very friendes see.

5. (obsolete) A spyglass; a looking-glass.
6. The brille of a snake.
7. (rail transport) A frame with different coloured lenses on a semaphore signal through which light from a lamp shines at night, often a part of the signal arm.

Synonyms

• (exciting event): show; pageant
• (optical instrument): glasses, eyeglasses, specs

Derived terms

• bespectacled
• counterspectacle
• make a public spectacle of oneself
• make a spectacle of oneself
• spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch
• superspectacle

Related terms

• species
• spectacular
• speculate

Translations

Further reading

• spectacle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Railway semaphore signal on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Latin spectaculum, from spectare (“to look”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sp?k.takl/
• Hyphenation: spec?ta?cle

Noun

spectacle m (plural spectacles)

1. a show, a spectacle, a performance, a concert

2. a sight, a showing, a display

Derived terms

• se donner en spectacle

Descendants

• ? Czech: spektákl
• ? Polish: spektakl

Further reading

• “spectacle” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).