Word.ws English Dictionary

coiled

/kɔɪld/

coiled is the simple past and past participle of coil.

Adjective

coiled (comparative more coiled, superlative most coiled)

  1. In the form of coils; having coils.
    • a coiled serpent
  2. Prepared and poised to act, like a snake that has coiled its lower body so it can strike.
    • Two first-half goals from the Colombian forward Radamel Falcao won the game, allowing Atlético to spend the final hour or so sitting deep, coiled always for a breakaway.2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in The Guardian
    • Nicole Kidman’s coiled intensity and muscular direction by Phillip Noyce give this nautical thriller a disquieting sense of dread.(Can we date this quote?), Rotten Tomatoes, (Please provide the book title or journal name)

Meaning of coil

Verb

coil (third-person singular simple present coils, present participle coiling, simple past and past participle coiled)

  1. To wind or reel e.g. a wire or rope into regular rings, often around a centerpiece.
    • A simple transformer can be made by coiling two pieces of insulated copper wire around an iron heart.
    Synonyms:
    spire
  2. To wind into loops (roughly) around a common center.
    • The sailor coiled the free end of the hawser on the pier.
  3. To wind cylindrically or spirally.
    • to coil a rope when not in use
  4. To build a pot (etc) with clay coils.
  5. (obsolete, rare) To encircle and hold with, or as if with, coils.
    • a. 1757, Thomas Edwards, sonnet to Mr. Nathanael Mason
      Pleasure coil thee in her dangerous snare

See all 13 meanings of coil

Synonyms of coiled

Forms of coiled

comparativemore coiled
superlativemost coiled

Words formed from coiled

Phrases with coiled

Words that rhyme with coiled

Questions about coiled

What does coiled mean?
Coiled means in the form of coils; having coils.
What is coiled the simple past and past participle of?
Coiled is the simple past and past participle of coil.
What part of speech is coiled?
Coiled is an adjective.
How do you pronounce coiled?
Coiled is pronounced /kɔɪld/.

Words near coiled in the dictionary

  1. coil-sprung
  2. Coila
  3. coilability
  4. coilable
  5. coile
  6. coiled
  7. coiled up
  8. coiler
  9. coilers
  10. Coiles
  11. coileth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: coiled (page history and authors); coil (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-coiled.wav.

Cite this entry: “coiled.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coiled. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.