noun
spectacles
SPEK-tuh-kuhlz/spˈɛktʌkʌlz/
Lenses in a frame worn to correct or protect vision.
The round spectacles rest on the open book.
Etymology
The history moves from a public show—something seen—to spectacle meaning a device that assists vision. The plural then became the name for a pair of lenses fitted in a frame.
In context
in recent months begun to fail his eyesight badly enough that he'd quietly [music] ordered a new pair of spectacles from a Philadelphia optician weeks earlier
More examples
- I keep a spare pair of spectacles in my desk.
- His spectacles fog up when he enters the warm kitchen.
- These spectacles have thin frames and lightweight lenses.
Forms
spectacles
Similar words
- glasses
- The everyday term for the same corrective or protective eyewear.
- eyeglasses
- Names the same eyewear without the formal tone of spectacles.