Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Amphitheatre |
AmphitheatreNoun1. 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 "amphitheatre" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (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: AmphitheatreSynonyms: amphitheater (n), coliseum (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Amphitheatre |
| Specialty definitions using "amphitheatre": fixed seating, fixed theater ♦ Hercules Secundus ♦ Puteoli. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Farewell: Live from the Universal Amphitheatre Halloween 1995 (1996) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Surgical amphitheatre. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Central Dispensary and Emergency Hospital, Washington, D.C. : Interior view- Amphitheatre, one of the larger operating rooms... Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | North view of the vulcanic amphitheatre at the south point of Mull. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | North west view of the vulcanic amphitheatre at the south point of Mull. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The Amphitheatre and Rostrum, National Cemetery, Arlington. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Amphitheatre" by Philip Jackson Commentary: "Amphitheatre in Nimes inthe south of france - best preseved Roman monument or so it claims. Stunning." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| "Amphitheatre" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.18% of the time. "Amphitheatre" is used about 110 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) | 98.18% | 108 | 31,306 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.82% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 110 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "amphitheatre": amphitheatre-like. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "amphitheatre"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | amfiteater. (various references) | |
Albanian | amfiteatër (bowl, circus). (various references) | |
Arabic | مدرج (scalar, stadium, theater, theatre), أرض (earth, floor, ground, grounds, land, site, soil, terrain, territory, topsoil). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | амфитеатър (cirque). (various references) | |
Czech | amfiteátr, posluchárna (auditorium, theatre). (various references) | |
Danish | amfiteater. (various references) | |
Dutch | amfitheater. (various references) | |
Esperanto | amfiteatro. (various references) | |
Finnish | amfiteatteri. (various references) | |
French | amphithéâtre, amphitéâtre. (various references) | |
German | Amphitheater (Amphitheater). (various references) | |
Greek | αμφιθέατρο (lecture room). (various references) | |
Hebrew | אמפיתאטרון, זירה (arena, scene, stage, theatre). (various references) | |
Hungarian | amfiteátrum (Amphitheater, coliseum). (various references) | |
Italian | anfiteatro (Amphitheater). (various references) | |
Manx | preaban caggee. (various references) | |
Papiamen | anfiteatro. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | amphitheatreay.(various references) | |
Polish | amfiteatr. (various references) | |
Portuguese | anfiteatro (amphitheater, circus, theater, theatre). (various references) | |
Romanian | arenã (arena, circle, circus, field, lists, pit, ring, stage), amfiteatru (hall, lecture theatre). (various references) | |
Russian | амфитеатр (amphitheater, circus, cirque, parquet circle). (various references) | |
Spanish | anfiteatro (Amphitheater, balcony, bowl, circle), circo (Amphitheater, circus, cirque). (various references) | |
Swedish | amfiteater. (various references) | |
Turkish | amfitiyatro, amfiteatr (coliseum), amfi (lecture theater, lecture theatre, theater, theatre). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | амфітеатр (bowl, cirque, parterre). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | amphitheatrum. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Amphitheatre" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: amphitheatrum, amphitheature, ampitheater. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: amphitheater. | |
| 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: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
