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Wonder vs Spectacle - What's the difference?

wonder | spectacle | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between wonder and spectacle

is that wonder is something that causes amazement or awe; a marvel while spectacle is 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.

As a verb wonder

is to be affected with surprise or admiration; to be struck with astonishment; to be amazed; to marvel.

wonder

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Something that causes amazement or awe; a marvel.
  • * , chapter=8
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.}}
  • Something astonishing and seemingly inexplicable.
  • Someone very talented at something, a genius.
  • The sense or emotion which can be inspired by something curious or unknown; surprise; astonishment.
  • * (Plato), Theætetus (section 155d)
    • Socrates: I see, my dear Theaetetus, that Theodorus had a true insight into your nature when he said that you were a philosopher, for wonder' is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in ' wonder . He was not a bad genealogist who said that Iris (the messenger of heaven) is the child of Thaumas (wonder).
  • * Bible, (w) iii. 10
    • They were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
  • * 1781 , (Samuel Johnson), The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets
    • All wonder is the effect of novelty upon ignorance.
  • (UK, informal) A mental pondering, a thought.
  • * 1934 , Katharine Tynan, The house of dreams
    • Miss Paynter had a little wonder as to whether the man, as she called Mr. Lacy in her own mind, had ever been admitted to this room. She thought not.

    Derived terms

    * bewonder * boy wonder * girl wonder * gutless wonder * little wonder * nine day wonder * no wonder * one hit wonder * * small wonder * Wonder Woman * wonderberry * wonderboy * wonderbra * wonderchild * wonderdrug * wonderful * wonderland * wonderment * wondrous, wonderous * wonderworker * work wonders

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be affected with surprise or admiration; to be struck with astonishment; to be amazed; to marvel.
  • * (Jonathan Swift), (w, Gulliver's Travels)
    • I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals.
  • * Johnson
    • We cease to wonder at what we understand.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
  • To ponder; to feel doubt and curiosity; to wait with uncertain expectation; to query in the mind.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • I wonder , in my soul, / What you would ask me, that I should deny.

    Derived terms

    * wonderer

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    spectacle

    English

    (wikipedia spectacle) (Webster 1913)

    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.

    • Synonyms

    * (optical instrument) glasses, eyeglasses, specs

    Related terms

    * species * spectacular * speculate

    External links

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