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spotlight

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A bright, directional light or lamp.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

spahtlyt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈspɑtlaɪt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A bright, directional light or lamp, especially one used to illuminate the focus or center of attention on a stage.

  2. figurative

    The center of attention; the highlight or most important part.

  3. A focus of public attention

  4. A lamp that produces a strong beam of light to illuminate a restricted area; used to focus attention of a stage performer

  5. by extension

    The circle of light shed by a spotlight.

  6. A showcase.

verb

  1. transitivefigurative

    To draw attention to.

  2. Illuminate with a spotlight, as in the theater

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A bright, directional light or lamp, especially one used to illuminate the focus or center of attention on a stage.

Used this way, spotlight is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Bright / focus

public spotlightbright spotlight

Other combinations

national spotlightinternational spotlightsimon spotlightpolitical spotlightsingle spotlightsmall spotlight

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: bright or directional light or lamp

limelightpublic eyespot

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.