Noun

(en noun)

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

* 22 March 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/]

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.

An exciting exhibition, performance or event.

An embarrassing situation

He made a spectacle out of himself

(usually, in the plural) 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.

(figuratively) An aid to the intellectual sight.

* Chaucer

Poverty a spectacle is, as thinketh me, Through which he may his very friends see.

(obsolete) A spyglass; a looking-glass.

The brille of a snake.

Noun

(en noun)

The region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.

* Milton

His eye discovers unaware / The goodly prospect of some foreign land.

A picturesque or panoramic view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.

* Evelyn

I went to Putney to take prospects in crayon.

A position affording a fine view; a lookout.

* 1667 , Milton, Paradise Lost

Him God beholding from his prospect high.

Relative position of the front of a building or other structure; face; relative aspect.

* Bible, Ezekiel xl. 44

Their prospect was toward the south.

The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation.

* John Locke

a very ill prospect of a future state

* Tillotson

Is he a prudent man as to his temporal estate, that lays designs only for a day, without any prospect to, or provision for, the remaining part of life?

The potential things that may come to pass, often favorable.

*

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 2, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC

, title= Bulgaria 0-3 England , passage=And a further boost to England's qualification prospects came after the final whistle when Wales recorded a 2-1 home win over group rivals Montenegro, who Capello's men face in their final qualifier.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Joseph Stiglitz)

, volume=188, issue=26, page=19, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Globalisation is about taxes too , passage=It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. […] It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries.}}

A hope; a hopeful.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 10, author=Jeremy Wilson, work=Telegraph

, title= England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report , passage=The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott. }}

(sports) Any player whose rights are owned by a top-level professional team, but who has yet to play a game for said team.

(music) The of an organ.