Quick Definition
a theatre, spectacle
Strong's Definition
a place for public show ("theatre"), i.e. general audience-room; by implication, a show itself (figuratively)
Derivation: from G2300 (θεάομαι);
KJV Usage: spectacle, theatre
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
θέατρον, θεατρου, τό (θεάομαι);
1. a theatre, a place in which games and dramatic spectacles are exhibited, and public assemblies held (for the Greeks used the theatre also as a forum): Act_19:29; Act_19:31.
2. equivalent to θεά and θέαμα, a public show (Aeschines dial. socr. 3, 20; Achilles Tatius 1, 16, p. 55), and hence, metaphorically, a man who is exhibited to be gazed at and made sport of: 1Co_4:9 (A. V. a spectacle).
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
θέατρον theatron 3x
a theater, a place where public games and spectacles are exhibited, Act_19:29 ; Act_19:31 ; meton. a show, gazing-stock, 1Co_4:9
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
* θέατρον , -ον , τό
( < θεάομαι ),
1. a theatre (used also as a place of assembly): Act_19:29 ; Act_19:31 .
2. Collective for οἱ θεαταί , the spectators.
3. = θέα , θέαμα , a spectacle, show: metaph ., 1Co_4:9 .†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
θέατρον [page 285]
The use of the θέατρον as a place for public assemblies, as in Act_19:29 , can be readily illustrated from the insert., e.g. Brit. Mus. Inscrr. III. 481 .395 (A.D. 104) φερέτωσαν . . . κατὰ πᾶσαν ἐκκλησίαν εἰς τὸ θέατρον (at Ephesus), Syll 314 .46 ἐκκλησία συνήχθη κυρία ἐν [τῶι θεά ]τρωι (see Preuschen HZNT ad loc. ). See also the neat confirmation of Act_19:32 ; Act_19:41 in the inscr. cited from Deissmann LAE, p. 114 s.v. ἐκκλησία . Miscellaneous exx. of the word from the papyri are P Flor I. 61 .29 (A.D. 85) (as amended Chrest , II. p. 89 ) ἄνθρωπον στα [τέον ] εἰς τὰ θέατρ [α , P Oxy III. 471 .106 (ii/A.D.) καὶ τὸν οὐκ ἐν λευκαῖς ἐσθῆσιν [ἐ ]ν θεάτρῳ καθίσα̣[ντα ] παρέδωκας εἰς θ̣[ά ]ν̣[ατον , and the man who took his seat at the theatre without wearing white garments you delivered to death (Edd.), ib. VI. 937 .11 (iii/A.D.) παραγγέλλω σοι . . . ἵνα παραβάλῃς πρὸς τῇ πλατείᾳ τοῦ θεάτρου , I bid you go to the street of the theatre, ib. VII. 1050 .16 (ii/iii A.D.) φύλ (αξι ) θεάτ̣[ρου . The adj. occurs in an inscr. from the theatre at Ephesus, OGIS 510 .7 (A.D. 138 61) τὴν λοιπὴν παρασκευὴν τῶν θεατρικῶν . MGr θέατρο (ν ).
Liddell-Scott — Intermediate Greek Lexicon
θέατρον [Etym: θεάομαι] "a place for seeing", esp. "a theatre", Hdt. , Thuc. , etc. collective for οἱ θεαταί, "the people in the theatre, the spectators, "the house, "" Hdt. , Ar. = θέαμα, "a show, spectacle", θ. γενηθῆναι, ῀ θεατρίζεσθαι, NTest.
STEPBible — Tyndale Abridged Greek Lexicon
θέατρον, -ον, τό
(θεάομαι),
__1. a theatre (used also as a place of assembly): Act.19:29, 31.
__2. Collective for οἱ θεαταί, the spectators.
__3. = θέα, θέαμα, a spectacle, show: metaphorically, 1Co.4:9.†
(AS)