Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Amphitheater |
AmphitheaterNoun1. A sloping gallery with seats for spectators (as in an operating room or theater). 2. An oval large stadium with tiers of seats; an arena in which contests and spectacles are held. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "amphitheater" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Classical Amphitheatre
The name amphitheatre (alternatively amphitheater) is given to a public building of the Classical period (being particularly associated with ancient Rome) which was used for spectator sports, games and displays.
The important distinction between an amphitheatre and a theatre is that an amphitheatre is round or oval in shape (whereas a theatre is semi-circular). However, an amphitheatre differs from a circus, which was used for racing.
The best-known amphitheatre in the world is the Roman Colosseum, which is more correctly termed the Flavian amphitheatre.
The remains of some 75 amphitheatres have been located in widely scattered areas of the Roman Empire. Other Roman amphitheaters include:
Albania
- Butrint
England
- Chester
Cyprus
- Salamis
France
- Arles
- Grand
- Lyon
- Nimes
- Paris (arenes de Lutece)
Germany
- Mainz
- Trier
Italy
- Aosta
- Capua
- Nola
- Puteoli
- Verona
Spain
- Mérida
Wales
- Caerleon
Contemporary Amphitheatre
In contemporary use, the term amphitheatre is often used to refer to semi-circular, accoustically vibrant performances spaces, particularly those which are located outdoors. These often include standing structures, sometimes curved or "bowl" shaped, both behind the stage and behind the audience, creating an area which echoes or amplifies sound, making the amphitheatre ideal for musical or theatrical performances.
A natural amphitheatre is a performance space located in a spot where a steep mountain or a particular rock formation naturally amplifies or echoes sound, making it ideal for musical and theatrical performances. The term amphitheatre can also be used to describe naturally occuring formations which would be ideal for this purpose, even if no theater has been constructed there.
Notable modern amphitheatres include the Universal Amphitheatre and the Hollywood Bowl. Notable natural amphitheatres include Echo Rock, New Mexico, Cedar Breaks National Monument and Red Rocks, Colorado.
See also: Arena, List of building types
External links
- Caerleon amphitheatre
- Chester amphitheatre
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Amphitheatre."
Synonyms: AmphitheaterSynonyms: amphitheatre (n), coliseum (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Arena | Noun: arena, field, platform; scene of action, theater; walk, course; hustings; stare, boards; (playhouse); amphitheater; Coliseum, Colosseum; Flavian amphitheater, hippodrome, circus, race course, corso, turf, bear garden, playground, gymnasium, palestra, ring, lists; tiltyard, tilting ground; Campus Martins, Champ de Allars; campus. |
School | Pulpit, lectern, soap box desk, reading desk, ambo, lecture room, theater, auditorium, amphitheater, forum, state, rostrum, platform, hustings, tribune. |
The Drama | Theater; playhouse, opera house; house; music hall; amphitheater, circus, hippodrome, theater in the round; puppet show, fantoccini; marionettes, Punch and Judy. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Amphitheater |
| English words defined with "amphitheater": Amphitheatral, amphitheatric, amphitheatrical, Amphitheatrically, arena ♦ Colosseum ♦ vomitory. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "amphitheater": rock glacier. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Amphitheater" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. German (Amphitheater, amphitheatre). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | University of Iowa Hospital and Medical Center : Students attending lecture in Medical Amphitheater. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Close-up of President Coolidge, full-length portrait, standing, facing left, speaking to crowd at Arlington Amphitheater advocating U.S. entry into World Court agreement. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Arlington National Cemetery Amphitheater. Approaches and theatre front, Arlington National Cemetery I. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Amphitheater - La Sorbonne" by Emmanuel Rivet Commentary: "Amphitheater in the university of La Sorbonne, Paris. 2000." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| "Amphitheater" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Amphitheater" is used about 5 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 100% | 5 | 157,705 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "amphitheater"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 圆形剧场. (various references) | |
Farsi | تالار (Chamber, Hall), سالن (Coliseum, Gallery), امفی تلاتر. (various references) | |
German | Amphitheater (amphitheatre). (various references) | |
Hungarian | Amfiteátrum (amphitheatre, coliseum). (various references) | |
Indonesian | ampiteater. (various references) | |
Italian | Anfiteatro (amphitheatre). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 円形劇場 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | えんけいげきじょう. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | amphitheateray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | anfiteatro (amphitheatre, circus, theater, theatre), circo (amphitheatre, circus, cirque). (various references) | |
Russian | амфитеатр (amphitheatre, circus, cirque, parquet circle). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | amfiteatar. (various references) | |
Spanish | anfiteatro (amphitheatre, balcony, bowl, circle). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | Амфітеатр. (various references) | |
Welsh | amchwaraefa. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "amphitheater": amphitheaters. (additional references) | |
| |
"Amphitheater" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: amphitheature, ampitheater. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "amphitheater" (pronounced a"mfuthē'uter) |
| 3 | -u t er | editor, elater, accelerometer, altimeter, anemometer, arbiter, auditor, barometer, capacitor, catheter, comparator, competitor, conservator, conspirator, contributor, creditor, densitometer, depositor, diameter, distributor, estimator, executor, exhibitor, fluorometer, goniometer, hydrometer, hygrometer, inheritor, inhibitor, inquisitor, interferometer, interlocutor, interpreter, janitor, kilometer, magnetometer, marketer, micrometer, monitor, odometer, orator, orbiter, parameter, perimeter, photometer, picketer, polarimeter, predator, progenitor, proprietor, quieter, rioter, Sen, senator, sequitur, solicitor, spectrometer, speedometer, telemarketer, tensiometer, Theater, theatre, thermometer, trumpeter, visitor. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-e-e-h-h-i-m-p-r-t-t" | |
-3 letters: haematite, impetrate. | |
-4 letters: amaretti, attemper, earthpea, hatteria, heathier, hematite, hemipter, tephrite, teraphim, thermite. | |
-5 letters: amirate, amreeta, apatite, aphthae, apteria, arietta, ariette, emerita, emirate, emitter, emptier, epithet, heather, hempier, hetaera, hetaira, iterate, meatier, partita, partite, peatier, pettier, preheat, primate, prithee, rhaphae, teatime, tempera, tempter, termite, theater, theatre, thereat, thermae, thither. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-e-e-h-h-i-m-p-r-t-t" | |
+1 letter: amphitheaters. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
