spiral
UK/ˈspaɪɹəl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈspɑɪɹəl/
spiral noun: a curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point.
Noun
spiral (plural spirals)
- A curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point.
- Synonyms:
- swirl
- A helix.
- A self-sustaining process with a lot of momentum involved, so it is difficult to accelerate or stop it at once.
- My beloved friends and family who sustained and grounded me as I fell into the rabbit hole of this project or down the spiral of new parenthood.2015, Jane Ward, Not Gay, New York University Press, →ISBN, page xi
- A section of track that forms a circle and crosses over itself, used for gaining height in mountainous territory.
Adjective
spiral (not comparable)
- Helical, like a spiral.
- The formation of tornados and water-spouts is very probably identical with that of dust-storms and "devils," viz., a sudden disturbance of the vertical equilibrium of the atmosphere, where by an upward rush of air is generated, which rapidly becomes spiral.1877, H. F. Blandford, Indian Meteorologist's Vade-mecum, page 140
Verb
spiral (third-person singular simple present spirals, present participle (US) spiraling or (UK) spiralling, simple past and past participle (US) spiraled or (UK) spiralled)
- To move along the path of a spiral or helix.
- The falling leaves spiralled down from the tree.
- To cause something to spiral.
- You need to learn how to spiral a ball.
- To increase continually.
- Her debts were spiralling out of control.
- Excessive contrarianism against the liberal establishment has also resulted in slopulism spiralling off into the most moronic of conspiracy theories.2025 May 2, Endeavour, “Against Slopulism”, in Counter-Currents, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2025
- To decline mentally.
- She spiralled into a deep depression.
- This one girl taps my insecurities / Don't know if it's real or if I'm spiraling / One voice tells me that they laugh / George says I'm just paranoid2024, Charli XCX, “Sympathy is a knife”, in Brat
spiral meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
spiral in Hindi
- geometry
- सर्पिल sarpil
spiral in Tamil
- geometry
- சுருளி curuḷi
spiral in Marathi
- सर्पिल, सर्पिल करणे
spiral in Urdu
- سرپل, سرپل کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
- spiral in Bengali
- প্যাঁচ pễc
- spiral in Telugu
- మర mara
- spiral in Malayalam
- പിരിപിരിയായ, സർപ്പിളമായ
- spiral in Kannada
- ಸುರುಳಿ
- spiral in Punjabi
- ਚੂੜੀ cūṛī
- spiral in Gujarati
- સર્પિલ sarpil
- spiral in Odia
- ସର୍ପିଲ, ସ୍ପାଇରାଲ୍, ସ୍ପାଇରାଲ୍ କରିବାକୁ
- spiral in Sinhala
- සුළිය suḷiya
- spiral in Assamese
- চকৰ sokor
- spiral in Nepali
- सर्पिल, स्पाइरल, सर्पिल गर्ने
- spiral in Tagalog
- balukay
- spiral in Arabic
- لَوْلَب lawlab, بُرْغِيّ burḡiyy, حَلَزُون ḥalazūn
- spiral in Indonesian
- pilin
- spiral in Persian
- مارپیچ mârpič
- spiral in Vietnamese
- xoắn ốc
- Sindhi
- گھُنڊيدار ghũḍedār
Examples of spiral in a sentence
- The design of his house incorporates a spiral staircase.
- As the crippled jet spiralled down, the pilot pulled the escape handle, ejecting first his rear-seater, then himself.
- We need to get a grip on these spiralling costs.
Synonyms of spiral
Forms of spiral
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | spirals |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | spirals |
| present participle US | spiraling |
| present participle UK | spiralling |
| past participle US | spiraled |
| past US | spiraled |
| past participle UK | spiralled |
| past UK | spiralled |
Origin of spiral
From Middle French spirale, from Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spīra, from Ancient Greek σπεῖρα (speîra, “wreath, coil, twist”).
Words formed from spiral
- annulospiral
- antispiral
- Archimedean spiral
- arithmetic spiral
- barred spiral galaxy
- bispiral
- counterspiral
- death spiral
- defensive spiral
- downward spiral
- Ekman spiral
- equiangular spiral
- Fibonacci spiral
- flocculent spiral galaxy
- genetic spiral
- golden spiral
- graveyard spiral
- herb spiral
- inflationary spiral
- inspiral
- Knochenhauer spiral
- Langmuir spiral
- logarithmic spiral
- Magellanic spiral
- minispiral
- multispiral
- nonspiral
- paucispiral
- planispiral
- purity spiral
- quadrispiral
- red spiral galaxy
- Riess spiral
- semispiral
- spiral arm
- spiral-bound
- spiralbound
- spiral cleavage
- spiral dance
- spiral dive
- spiral DRAGN
- spiral fries
- spiral galaxy
- spiral ganglion
- spiral ginger
- spiralglass
- Spiralia
- spiralian
- spiraliform
- spiralise
- spiralism
- spiralist
- spirality
- spiralization
- spiralize
- spirallike
- spirally
- spiral nebula
- spiral of Archimedes
- spiral out
Phrases with spiral
- red spiral
- spiral arms
- spiral pass
- spiral pump
- spiral worm
- Ulam spiral
- Cornu spiral
- Euler spiral
- spiral pumps
- spiral worms
- spiral wrack
- super spiral
21 more phrasesFewer phrases
- spiral dances
- spiral DRAGNs
- spiral passes
- spiral spring
- spiral wracks
- upward spiral
- spiral ganglia
- spiral gingers
- spiral nebulae
- spiral nebulas
- spiral springs
- spiral galaxies
- virtuous spiral
- spiral staircase
- spiral staircases
- red spiral galaxies
- barred spiral galaxies
- Steiner's spiral nematode
- flocculent spiral galaxies
- superluminous spiral galaxy
- superluminous spiral galaxies
Words that rhyme with spiral
Questions about spiral
- What does spiral mean?
- Spiral means a curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point.
- What is spiral in Hindi?
- Spiral in Hindi is सर्पिल (sarpil). See Spiral meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is spiral?
- Spiral can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce spiral?
- Spiral is pronounced /ˈspaɪɹəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of spiral?
- The plural of spiral is spirals.
Words near spiral in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: spiral (page history and authors); spiral (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spiral (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); প্যাঁচ (Bengali) (page history and authors); మర (Telugu) (page history and authors); spiral (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); spiral (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਚੂੜੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); સર્પિલ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); spiral (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); සුළිය (Sinhala) (page history and authors); চকৰ (Assamese) (page history and authors); spiral (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-spiral.ogg.
Cite this entry: “spiral.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spiral. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.