spiral
pronunciation
How to pronounce spiral in British English:
UK [ˈspaɪrəl]
How to pronounce spiral in American English:
US [ˈspaɪrəl]
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- Noun:
- a plane curve traced by a point circling about the center but at ever-greater distances from it
- a curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and cuts the element at a constant angle
- ornament consisting of a curve on a plane that winds around a center with an increasing distance from the center
- a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops
- flying downward in a helical path with a large radius
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- Verb:
- to wind or move in a spiral course
- form a spiral
- move in a spiral or zigzag course
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- Adjective:
- in the shape of a coil
Word Origin
- spiral
- spiral: [16] Spiral comes via French spiral from medieval Latin spīrālis ‘coiled’, a derivative of Latin spīra. This in turn went back to Greek speira ‘coil’. English also acquired the noun, as spire [16], which is used for the ‘tip of a spiral shell’. It is not the same word as the spire of a church [OE], which originally meant ‘stalk, stem’, and may go back ultimately to the base *spī- (source of English spike ‘pointed flower head’ and spine). The spiraea [17] is etymologically the ‘coiled’ plant; and spiraea in turn was used to form the term aspirin.=> aspirin, spiraea
- spiral (adj.)
- 1550s, from Middle French spiral (16c.), from Medieval Latin spiralis "winding around a fixed center, coiling" (mid-13c.), from Latin spira "a coil, fold, twist, spiral," from Greek speira "a winding, a coil, twist, wreath, anything wound or coiled," from PIE *sper-ya-, from base *sper- (2) "to turn, twist." Related: Spirally. Spiral galaxy first attested 1913.
- spiral (v.)
- 1726 (implied in spiraled), transitive, from spiral (n.). Intransitive use by 1834. Transferred and figurative sense by 1922. Related: Spiraling.
- spiral (n.)
- 1650s, from spiral (adj.). U.S. football sense is from 1896. Figurative sense of "progressive movement in one direction" is by 1897. Of books, spiral-bound (adj.) is from 1937.
Example
- 1. This dynamic can lead to a self-reinforcing downward spiral .
- 2. Several factors lead to this downward spiral of the unemployed .
- 3. In this case , the orbit of the rotating asteroid will very slowly spiral in toward the sun .
- 4. It was declared a national champion , showered with favors , and proceeded to go into a death spiral .
- 5. Higher inflation might prompt a wage spiral .