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Captivate vs Spectacular - What's the difference?

captivate | spectacular |

As a verb captivate

is to attract and hold interest and attention of; charm.

As an adjective spectacular is

amazing or worthy of special notice.

As a noun spectacular is

a spectacular display.

captivate

English

Verb

(captivat)
  • To attract and hold interest and attention of; charm.
  • * Washington Irving
    • small landscapes of captivating loveliness
  • *, chapter=3
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}
  • (obsolete) To take prisoner; to capture; to subdue.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Their woes whom fortune captivates .
  • * Glanvill
    • 'Tis a greater credit to know the ways of captivating Nature, and making her subserve our purposes, than to have learned all the intrigues of policy.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    spectacular

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Amazing or worthy of special notice
    • The parachutists were spectacular .
  • (dated) Related to, or having the character of, a spectacle or entertainment
    • the merely spectacular
  • * G. Hickes
    • Spectacular sports.
  • * {{quote-news, 1910, August 21, Andre Tridon, Europe Flirts with Argentina to Win Her Rich Trade, The New York Times citation
    • , passage=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.}}
  • Relating to spectacles, or glasses for the eyes.

    • Derived terms

    * spectacularly * unspectacular

    Related terms

    * spectacle * species * speculate

    External links

    * *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A spectacular display.
  • * 2010 , "Under the volcano", The Economist , 16 Oct 2010:
    • Though business has more or less held up so far, a series of drug-related spectaculars sparked an exodus of the city's upper class this summer.