as in to curl
to follow a circular or spiral course
a narrow road spiraling up the mountain to the summit
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in winding
turning around an axis like the thread of a screw
a spiral staircase takes visitors up into the Statue of Liberty
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Examples of spiral in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The Editors, National Review, 3 Oct. 2024
Set in the 1970s, the story begins in Paris and spirals toward tragedy on the remote shores of Peru.
—Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 2 Oct. 2024
Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 26 Sep. 2024
The robot includes a spiral brush with a design that helps prevent long hairs from getting tangled around it and a pair of spinning mopping heads that can extend outward to clean closer to furniture or up against walls while also retracting when cleaning carpeting.
—Andrew Liszewski, The Verge, 24 Sep. 2024
Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, 2 Oct. 2024
Path to Unity With all these studies and insights there must be a way out of this negative spiral.
—Mary Meehan, Forbes, 25 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for spiral 
Verb
In many other countries, a dockworkers’ strike could spiral out of control by spurring solidarity strikes across the economy.
—The Editors, National Review, 3 Oct. 2024
Set in the 1970s, the story begins in Paris and spirals toward tragedy on the remote shores of Peru.
—Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 2 Oct. 2024
Adjective
In 2020, Japanese researchers reconstructed micrographs of histological sections from a species of catshark into a three-dimensional model, offering a tantalizing glimpse of the anatomy of a scroll-type spiral intestine.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 26 Sep. 2024
The robot includes a spiral brush with a design that helps prevent long hairs from getting tangled around it and a pair of spinning mopping heads that can extend outward to clean closer to furniture or up against walls while also retracting when cleaning carpeting.
—Andrew Liszewski, The Verge, 24 Sep. 2024
Noun
The Big Thaw: How Russia Could Dominate a Warming World
The exodus of the young means these towns could enter a population death spiral.
—Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, 2 Oct. 2024
Path to Unity With all these studies and insights there must be a way out of this negative spiral.
—Mary Meehan, Forbes, 25 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for spiral
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spiral.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Spiral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spiral. Accessed 22 Oct. 2024.
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