spectaculum

spectaculum noun: a spectacle.

Noun

spectaculum (plural spectaculums)

(archaic, rare) A spectacle.
- A dream put Aristotle out of breath, / A meteor he said, ’twixt life and death. “An quid fit frustra? An datur vacuum? Fill the pot, Edy! Supernaculum.” A blazing star’s a rare spectaculum!1816 December, “Fragmenta. Being Thoughts, Observations, Reflections, and Criticisms, with Anecdotes and Characters Ancient and Modern. No. XVI.”, in The European Magazine, and London Review, […]...
- So many amusements have sprung up of late, Theatres, Museums, Spectaculums, Circuses, Castle Gardens, Waxfigures, and Balloons, that we can scarcely find time to devote to one as often as its proprietor could wish, and the public munificence is consequently so dissipated among the multitude, that...1825 September 3, “[The Drama.] Park Theatre.”, in George P[ope] Morris, editor, The New-York Mirror, and Ladies’ Literary Gazette; […], volume III, number 6, New York, N.Y.: […] [F]or the...

We have a surprising growth of street spectacles in the great thoroughfares; out-of-door shows of a more ambitious character—small theatres and spectaculums.1853, Cornelius Mathews, “Seeing the Bear Dance and Other Street Entertainments”, in A Pen-and-Ink Panorama of New-York City, New York...
A stage coach was then “a rare spectaculum,” being only found on the grand thoroughfares and leading arteries of the kingdom.1853 April, Rory Oge, “Getting on in Ireland”, in The Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume XLI, number...
It was a spectaculum to behold the old lady stepping up to the creek alongside and supported by the aged pastor to be submerged.1903 July 22, Visitor [pseudonym], “Antioch Church”, in The Evergreen Courant, volume 8, number 43, Evergreen, Ala., page [3], column 4:
The Roman part of the program was a spectaculum revealing the Delphic oracle, portrayed by Sandra Weaver, answering questions in rhyme which were asked by prominent Romans.1960 March 30, “Latin, French Clubs Hold Banquet At Berne Union”, in The Logan Daily News, one hundred and twenty-seventh year, number 76...

plural	spectaculums

From Latin spectāculum. Doublet of spectacle.

What does spectaculum mean?: Spectaculum means a spectacle.
How do you use spectaculum in a sentence?: We have a surprising growth of street spectacles in the great thoroughfares; out-of-door shows of a more ambitious character—small theatres and spectaculums.
What part of speech is spectaculum?: Spectaculum is a noun.
What is the plural of spectaculum?: The plural of spectaculum is spectaculums.

Adapted from Wiktionary: spectaculum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “spectaculum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spectaculum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.