spiral

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See also: spirál

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
 Spiral (railway) on Wikipedia
Archimedean spiral

Etymology

From Middle French spirale, from Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira, from Ancient Greek σπείρα (speíra, “wreath, coil, twist”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈspaɪɹəl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪɹəl

Noun

spiral (plural spirals)

  1. (geometry) A curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point.
  2. (informal) A helix.
  3. A self-sustaining process with a lot of momentum involved, so it is difficult to accelerate or stop it at once.
    • 2015, Jane Ward, Not Gay, New York University Press, →ISBN, page xi:
      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.
  4. (rail transport) A section of track that forms a circle and crosses over itself, used for gaining height in mountainous territory.

Translations

Adjective

spiral (not comparable)

  1. Helical, like a spiral.
    • 1877, H. F. Blandford, Indian Meteorologist's Vade-mecum, page 140:
      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.

Translations

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)

  1. (intransitive) To move along the path of a spiral or helix.
    The falling leaves spiralled down from the tree.
  2. (transitive) To cause something to spiral.
    You need to learn how to spiral a ball.
  3. (figuratively, intransitive) To increase continually.
    Her debts were spiralling out of control.

Translations

Derived terms

from all parts of speech

Further reading

Anagrams

Danish

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

spiral c (singular definite spiralen, plural indefinite spiraler)

  1. spiral
  2. coil (contraceptive device)

Declension

Declension of spiral
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative spiral spiralen spiraler spiralerne
genitive spirals spiralens spiralers spiralernes

Further reading

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

spiral (feminine spirale, masculine plural spiraux, feminine plural spirales)

  1. spiral

Noun

spiral m (plural spiraux)

  1. spiral

Further reading

Northern Sami

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

  • (Kautokeino) IPA(key): /ˈspiral/

Noun

spiral

  1. hip

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

  • Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎, Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no
 spiral (prevensjonsmiddel) on Norwegian Wikipedia

Etymology

From Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira.

Noun

spiral m (definite singular spiralen, indefinite plural spiraler, definite plural spiralene)

  1. a spiral, coil
  2. a coil (contraceptive device)

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

From Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira.

Noun

spiral m (definite singular spiralen, indefinite plural spiralar, definite plural spiralane)

  1. a spiral, coil
  2. a coil (contraceptive device)

Derived terms

References

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French spiral.

Adjective

spiral m or n (feminine singular spirală, masculine plural spirali, feminine and neuter plural spirale)

  1. spiral

Declension

Declension of spiral
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/
accusative 		indefinite spiral spirală spirali spirale
definite spiralul spirala spiralii spiralele
genitive/
dative 		indefinite spiral spirale spirali spirale
definite spiralului spiralei spiralilor spiralelor

Further reading

Swedish

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

spiral c

  1. a spiral
  2. an intrauterine device, a coil (contraceptive device)

Declension

Declension of spiral 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative spiral spiralen spiraler spiralerna
Genitive spirals spiralens spiralers spiralernas

Derived terms

See also

References

Anagrams

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia