a. and sb. [f. L. spectacul-um SPECTACLE sb.1]
1. Of the nature of a spectacle or show; striking or imposing as a display.
1682. G. Hickes, Serm. bef. Ld. Mayor, 30 Jan., 4. The Spectacular sports were concluded.
1865. Daily Tel., 20 Nov., 5/1. The true interests of the drama may in the end be advanced by its separation from merely spectacular entertainments.
1876. Black, Madcap Violet, xliv. 382. That was all very well as a spectacular exhibition.
1884. Nonconf. & Indep., 13 Nov., 1094/1. The Lord Mayor’s Show was a more ambitious and spectacular pageant than ever.
b. absol. That which appeals to the eye.
1876. J. Parker, Paracl., I. xvi. 257. The carnal mind loves the spectacular, the marvellous.
1896. J. M. Manly, Introd. Macbeth, p. xxiii. The list of plays and masques indicates a growing tendency to the spectacular during the 2nd decade of the 17th century.
2. Pertaining to, characteristic of, spectacles or shows.
1864. Daily Tel., 16 Aug. They are fond of spectacular magnificence.
1876. E. Mellor, Priesthood, vi. 293. It is easy … to surround any ceremony … with a spectacular splendour which captivates the imagination.
1883. Ellen H. Rollins (‘E. H. Arr’), New Eng. Bygones, 240. That climate … spread over the landscape a great spectacular glory.
3. Addicted to, fond of, spectacles.
1894. Daily Tel., 2 July, 7/2. All the glory of uniform and the glow of colour beloved by the most spectacular nation in the world.
4. As sb. A spectacular display.
1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 8 April, 7/2. An amphitheatre … in which spectaculars on a grand scale might be produced before a half-million spectators.
Hence Spectacularity, spectacular quality or character.
1883. Howells, Woman’s Reason, xii. The bare spectacularity of the keeping … must all be eloquent of a boarding-house. Ibid. (1891), Imperative Duty, 6. A certain civic grandiosity, a sort of lion-and-unicorn spectacularity.
