Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Spotlight |
SpotlightNoun1. A focus of public attention; "he enjoyed being in the limelight". 2. A lamp that produces a strong beam of light to illuminate a restricted area; used to focus attention of a stage performer. Verb1. Move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent; "The introduction highlighted the speaker's distinguished career in linguistics". 2. Illuminate with a spotlight, as in the theater. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "spotlight" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1916. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Physics | Direct a concentrated beam of light on to a given point or surface, by means of a reflector and lenses, or with a reflector only. Source: European Union. (references) |
Fine Arts | A lighting instrument used to provide sharp intense illumination for a specific portion of the stage. Source: European Union. (references) |
Post & Telecom | A radar operating mode using a very narrow beam with the highest possible resolution. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: SpotlightSynonyms: limelight (n), public eye (n), spot (n), foreground (v), highlight (v), play up (v). (additional references) |
| Antonym: background (v). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Spotlight |
| Specialty definitions using "spotlight": Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line ♦ baby solarspot, baby spot, baby spot light ♦ cut-off-machine helper, cut-off-machine unloader ♦ Digital Subscriber Line ♦ electrician, front ♦ GLASS-UNLOADING-EQUIPMENT TENDER ♦ LIGHTING-EQUIPMENT OPERATOR ♦ regalia. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I'm only really at home in the spotlight (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows; writing credit: Lorna Luft; Robert L. Freedman) | |
Lyrics | At your eyes like a spotlight, (Making Love Out Of Nothing At All; performing artist: Air Supply) Standing in the spotlight (Mr. Jones; performing artist: Counting Crows) Than to burn in the spotlight, turn in the spitfire (... On The Radio (Remember The Days); performing artist: Nelly Furtado) That's me in the spotlight (Losing My Religion; performing artist: R.E.M.) Same spotlight that once gave me fame (Whatchulookinat; performing artist: Whitney Houston) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Spotlight On Youth (1958) Manhattan Spotlight (1949) Spotlight Revue (1943) In the Spotlight (1935) The Spotlight (1927) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Dendritic ice crystals illuminated by spotlight. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |  | Close-up of a spotlight parrotfish supermale. Credit: The Coral Kingdom. |
 | An old tragedian claims the spotlight again. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | There ought to be a code against hoggin' all the spotlight!. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Git out o' the way an' let me have the spotlight. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Bottle of Congress beer. Bottle of beer lying flat in spotlight. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Behind the Flowers" by Lynn Cummings Commentary: "Sometimes the leaves demand spotlight over the blooms." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | The car drew up to the house and a spotlight snapped on. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Brazil | Recent migrations into the Amazon and largescale burning of forest areas have placed the international spotlight on Brazil. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | REGALIA, n. Distinguishing insignia, jewels and costume of such ancient and honorable orders as Knights of Adam; Visionaries of Detectable Bosh; the Ancient Order of Modern Troglodytes; the League of Holy Humbug; the Golden Phalanx of Phalangers; the Genteel Society of Expurgated Hoodlums; the Mystic Alliances of Georgeous Regalians; Knights and Ladies of the Yellow Dog; the Oriental Order of Sons of the West; the Blatherhood of Insufferable Stuff; Warriors of the Long Bow; Guardians of the Great Horn Spoon; the Band of Brutes; the Impenitent Order of Wife-Beaters; the Sublime Legion of Flamboyant Conspicuants; Worshipers at the Electroplated Shrine; Shining Inaccessibles; Fee-Faw-Fummers of the inimitable Grip; Jannissaries of the Broad-Blown Peacock; Plumed Increscencies of the Magic Temple; the Grand Cabal of Able-Bodied Sedentarians; Associated Deities of the Butter Trade; the Garden of Galoots; the Affectionate Fraternity of Men Similarly Warted; the Flashing Astonishers; Ladies of Horror; Cooperative Association for Breaking into the Spotlight; Dukes of Eden; Disciples Militant of the Hidden Faith; Knights-Champions of the Domestic Dog; the Holy Gregarians; the Resolute Optimists; the Ancient Sodality of Inhospitable Hogs; Associated Sovereigns of Mendacity; Dukes-Guardian of the Mystic Cess-Pool; the Society for Prevention of Prevalence; Kings of Drink; Polite Federation of Gents-Consequential; the Mysterious Order of the Undecipherable Scroll; Uniformed Rank of Lousy Cats; Monarchs of Worth and Hunger; Sons of the South Star; Prelates of the Tub-and-Sword. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | The spotlight should shine on those who make the right choices for themselves, their families and their communities. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Spotlight" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.51% of the time. "Spotlight" is used about 362 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 (singular) | 97.51% | 353 | 15,179 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 2.49% | 9 | 117,287 |
| Total | 100.00% | 362 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "spotlight": be in the spotlight ♦ under spotlight. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; 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 "spotlight"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | qendër vëmendjeje, ndriçoj (enlighten, glisten, illuminate, illumine, irradiate, light, lighten, shine), dritë prozhektori. (various references) | |
Arabic | سلط الأضواء على, ضوء كشاف (spot), ضوء موضعي, ضوء المسرح, ألقى الأضواء على. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | светлина от прожектор (floodlight), осветявам (expose, illuminate, illumine, irradiate, lamp, light, lighten, shine on, strike on), насочвам вниманието към, прожектор (floodlight, searchlight), привличащо вниманието положение. (various references) | |
Chinese | 聚光灯. (various references) | |
Czech | svìtlomet (floodlight, headlight, searchlight), svìtelný kužel, bodový reflektor. (various references) | |
Danish | spotlight, projektør (projector, searchlight). (various references) | |
Dutch | smalle signaalbundel, schijnwerper (projector, searchlight), puntlicht. (various references) | |
Farsi | نورافکن (Searchlight), چراغ نورافکن , شخصی که زیرنورافکن صحنه نمایش است . (various references) | |
Finnish | valokeila. (various references) | |
French | spotlight, spot (light spot, spot), projecteur spot, projecteur intensif, projecteur de lumière (spot, spot lantern), projecteur convergent, projecteur, mettre le doigt sur, mettre en vedette, mettre en lumière, lumière, feu de projecteur (spot), diriger le projecteur sur. (various references) | |
German | anstrahlen (beam at, floodlight, illuminate). (various references) | |
Greek | κέντρο προσοχήσ (cynosure), σποτ, σημειακός προβολέας, στενή δέσμη (pencil beam), προβολέασ θέατρου, προβολέας (headlight, projector). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מוקד התענינות, תאורת בימה, זרקור (projector, searchlight, spot). (various references) | |
Hungarian | reflektorfény (beam, floodlight, limelight). (various references) | |
Indonesian | lampu sorot (searchlight). (various references) | |
Italian | proiettore (floodlight, headlight, light, projector). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 点光 , スポーツ新聞 (fire-engine, spoil, spoils system, sponsor, sporting newspaper, sporty, spot, spot announcement, spot campaign, spot check, spot commercial, spot news, syringe). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | スポットライト , てんこう (about-face, change schools, conversion, queen of heaven, shift, switch, weather, work of nature). (various references) | |
Korean | 스포트라이트. (various references) | |
Manx | spohthoilshey, cur spohthoilshey er. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | otlightspay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | spot (spot, spot announcement), publicidade (advertisement, light, limelight, publicity, publicness), projetor (headlight, projector, searchlight), projector (projector), holofote (beam, floodlight, projector, searchlight, tent pole), farolete, farol giratório. (various references) | |
Romanian | reflector (flood-light, reflector, reverberator, searchlight, search-light), proiector (projector, searchlight, search-light), luminã de reflector, centru al atenţiei. (various references) | |
Russian | прожектор (floodlight, projector, searchlight). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | svetlosni snop uperen na jedno mesto, reflektor (floodlight, olivet, reflector, searchlight), osvetliti (illuminate, illumine, kindle, light, light up, lighten, set light to, shine). (various references) | |
Spanish | reflector (baffler, dish, floodlight, reflector, rejector, searchlight), proyector (projector, searchlight), luz concentrada, iluminar (enlighten, illuminate, illumine, light, light up, lighten, shine on), haz concentrado (pencil beam, pencilbeam), foco (coat, coating, floodlight, focal point, focus, headquarters, pocket, seat, seedbed), faro auxiliar, destacar (class, detach, detail, distinguish, draft, draught, foreground, highlight, protrude, second, stand out). (various references) | |
Swedish | strålkastare (floodlight, floodlights, headlamp, searchlight, torchlight). (various references) | |
Turkish | spot (spot), sahne ışığı (limelight, spot), far (eyeshadow, headlamp, headlight, lamp). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | фара (headlamp, headlight), освітити прожектором, прожектор (floodlight, projector, searchlight), поставити в центрі уваги. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | địa vị nổi bật, đèn sân khấu sự nổi bật trong công chúng. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "spotlight": spotlighted, spotlighting, spotlights. (additional references) | |
| |
"Spotlight" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: softlite. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "spotlight" (pronounced spÄ"tlī't) |
| 3 | -l ī' t | acolyte, backlight, candlelight, cryolite, impolite, daylight, flashlight, floodlight, headlight, highlight, inflight, lazulite, limelight, moonlight, niccolite, overflight, satellite, searchlight, skylight, socialite, starlight, stoplight, sunlight, twilight. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: stoplight. | |
| Words within the letters "g-h-i-l-o-p-s-t-t" | |
-2 letters: glottis, plights, spotlit. | |
-3 letters: holist, lights, lithos, pilots, pistol, plight, polish, slight, spigot, spilth, spoilt, thiols, tights, tilths. | |
-4 letters: ghost, gilts, glops, glost, hilts, hoist, holts, light, litho, phots, pilot, piths, plots, polis, posit, shott, sight, slipt, sloth, spilt, split, spoil, stilt, stopt, thiol, tight, tilth, tilts, toils, toits, tophi, tophs, topis. | |
-5 letters: ghis. | |
| Words containing the letters "g-h-i-l-o-p-s-t-t" | |
+1 letter: postflight, spotlights, stoplights. | |
+2 letters: pathologist, spotlighted. | |
+3 letters: pathologists, spotlighting, trothplights. | |
+4 letters: herpetologist. | |
+5 letters: anthropologist, antiphlogistic, herpetologists, histopathology, photobiologist, photogeologist. | |
| 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: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Speeches 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
