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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

spi·ral

Audio Help [spahy-ruh

l] Pronunciation Key noun, adjective, verb, -raled, -ral·ing or (especially British

) -ralled, -ral·ling.

–noun

1.	Geometry. a plane curve generated by a point moving around a fixed point while constantly receding from or approaching it.

a helix.

3.	a single circle or ring of a spiral or helical curve or object.

4.	a spiral or helical object, formation, or form.

5.	Aeronautics. a maneuver in which an airplane descends in a helix of small pitch and large radius, with the angle of attack within that of the normal flight range.

6.	Football. a type of kick or pass in which the ball turns on its longer axis as it flies through the air.

7.	Economics. a continuous increase in costs, wages, prices, etc. (inflationary spiral), or a decrease in costs, wages, prices, etc. (deflationary spiral).

–adjective

8.	running continuously around a fixed point or center while constantly receding from or approaching it; coiling in a single plane: a spiral curve.

9.	coiling around a fixed line or axis in a constantly changing series of planes; helical.

10.	of or of the nature of a spire or coil.

11.	bound with a spiral binding; spiral-bound: a spiral notebook.

–verb (used without object)

12.	to take a spiral form or course.

13.	to advance or increase steadily; rise: Costs have been spiraling all year.

14.	Aeronautics. to fly an airplane through a spiral course.

–verb (used with object)

15.	to cause to take a spiral form or course.

[Origin: 1545–55; < ML spīrālis, equiv. to L spīr(a) coil (< Gk speǐra anything coiled, wreathed, or twisted; see spire²) + -ālis -al¹

]

—Related forms

spi·ral·i·ty

Audio Help [spahy-ral-i-tee] Pronunciation Key, noun

spi·ral·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
spiraling

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

spi·ral Audio Help (spī'rəl) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. A curve on a plane that winds around a fixed center point at a continuously increasing or decreasing distance from the point.
2. A three-dimensional curve that turns around an axis at a constant or continuously varying distance while moving parallel to the axis; a helix.
3. Something having the form of such a curve: a spiral of black smoke.
Printing A spiral binding.
The course or flight path of an object rotating on its longitudinal axis.
A continuously accelerating increase or decrease: the wage-price spiral.

adj.

Of or resembling a spiral.
Circling around a center at a continuously increasing or decreasing distance.
Coiling around an axis in a constantly changing series of planes; helical.
Printing Relating to or having a spiral binding: a spiral notebook.

v. spi·raled also spi·ralled, spi·ral·ing also spi·ral·ling, spi·rals also spi·rals

v. intr.

To take a spiral form or course.
To rise or fall with steady acceleration.

v. tr.
To cause to take a spiral form or course.

[Medieval Latin spīrālis, of a spiral, from Latin spīra, coil; see spire².]

spi·ral'i·ty (spī-rāl'ĭ-tē) n., spi'ral·ly adv.

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