Library / English Dictionary

SPIRAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: spiralled    , spiralling   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Flying downward in a helical path with a large radius

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("spiral" is a kind of...):

rotary motion; rotation (the act of rotating as if on an axis)

Derivation:

spiral (move in a spiral or zigzag course)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops

Example:

a coil of rope

Synonyms:

coil; helix; spiral; volute; whorl

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("spiral" is a kind of...):

construction; structure (a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spiral"):

hank (a coil of rope or wool or yarn)

Derivation:

spiral (to wind or move in a spiral course)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Ornament consisting of a curve on a plane that winds around a center with an increasing distance from the center

Synonyms:

spiral; volute

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("spiral" is a kind of...):

decoration; ornament; ornamentation (something used to beautify)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A continuously accelerating change in the economy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("spiral" is a kind of...):

economic process (any process affecting the production and development and management of material wealth, or, according to Carmine Gorga, Ph.D., author of the book 'The Economic Process', the process of production of real wealth, distribution of ownership rights over real and monetary wealth, and consumption or expenditure of monetary wealth to purchase real wealth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spiral"):

inflationary spiral (an episode of inflation in which prices and wages increase at an increasing rate and currency rapidly loses value)

deflationary spiral (an episode of deflation in which prices and wages decrease at an increasing rate and currency gains in value)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A plane curve traced by a point circling about the center but at increasing distances from the center

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("spiral" is a kind of...):

curve; curved shape (the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes)

Derivation:

spiral (to wind or move in a spiral course)

spiral (form a spiral)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and cuts the element at a constant angle

Synonyms:

helix; spiral

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("spiral" is a kind of...):

curve; curved shape (the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spiral"):

double helix (a pair of parallel helices intertwined about a common axis)

Derivation:

spiral (form a spiral)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

In the shape of a coil

Synonyms:

coiling; helical; spiral; spiraling; turbinate; volute; voluted; whorled

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

coiled (curled or wound (especially in concentric rings or spirals))

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To wind or move in a spiral course

Example:

the young people gyrated on the dance floor

Synonyms:

coil; gyrate; spiral

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "spiral" is one way to...):

turn (change orientation or direction, also in the abstract sense)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

spiral (a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops)

spiral (a plane curve traced by a point circling about the center but at increasing distances from the center)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move in a spiral or zigzag course

Synonyms:

corkscrew; spiral

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "spiral" is one way to...):

turn (change orientation or direction, also in the abstract sense)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

spiral (flying downward in a helical path with a large radius)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Form a spiral

Example:

The path spirals up the mountain

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "spiral" is one way to...):

curve; twist; wind (extend in curves and turns)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sentence example:

The wires spiral around the stick

Derivation:

spiral (a plane curve traced by a point circling about the center but at increasing distances from the center)

spiral (a curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and cuts the element at a constant angle)

Credits

 Context examples: 

For the first time, we are seeing filaments of gas directly spiral into a galaxy.

(Spiraling filaments feed young galaxies, National Science Foundation’s Division of Astronomical Sciences.)

The radiation source in the machine rotates around the patient in a spiral pattern.

(Helical tomotherapy, NCI Dictionary)

The cells forming the inner spiraled tunnel walls in the organ of Corti within the inner ear.

(Inner Rod of the Corti, NCI Thesaurus)

A genus of aerobic, Gram-negative, spiral shaped bacteria assigned to the phylum Spirochaetes and the family Spirochaetaceae.

(Borrelia, NCI Thesaurus)

Under a microscope, they look like balls, rods, or spirals.

(Bacterial Infections, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Bright red patches of gas can be seen scattered through its swirling spiral arms, mixed with bright blue regions that contain newly forming stars.

(Lonely Galaxy Lost in Space, NASA)

A species of microaerophilic, Gram-negative, curved or spiral bacilli assigned to the phylum Proteobacteria.

(Campylobacter coli, NCI Thesaurus)

Almost all the polar cyclones, at both poles, are so densely packed that their spiral arms come in contact with adjacent cyclones.

(Jupiter’s Jet-Streams Are Unearthly, NASA)

This is a surprise because elliptical galaxies contain older stars, while spiral galaxies typically contain younger blue stars.

(Massive Dead Disk Galaxy Challenges Theories of Galaxy Evolution, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

When galaxies collide, their central black holes tend to spiral toward each other, releasing gravitational waves in their cosmic dance.

(Listening for Gravitational Waves Using Pulsars, NASA)