upward spiral
1
4.1
- noun
:
espiral ascendente
- The team's recent victories have put them on an upward spiral, boosting their confidence and morale.
- continue their upward spiral
I mean, we so often associate health with downward spirals, but upward spirals are completely possible.
- I mean, we so often associate health with downward spirals, but upward spirals are completely possible.
- And, and that's, that's the perfect circle that just is, I guess it's more of an upward spiral.
Examples
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It's an upward spiral once you get it rolling.
Blog text (14) -
I mean, we so often associate health with downward spirals, but upward spirals are completely possible.
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This contributed to an upward spiral.
Blog text (25) -
My job is to make sure I get our football team in an upward spiral, not a downward spiral.
Blog text (30) -
If you see this as just another temporary dip in a generally upward spiral, then you're probably going to go for the first option.
Blog text (18) -
Once we are back out of the death spiral and back in the upward spiral, instead of the losses building on themselves, we'll see growth building on itself.
Blog text (6) -
It was a brief pause in the upward spiral of tension between them.
Fiction book (1993) -
Doing so facilitates the upward spiral needed to minimize the impact of the depressive period.
Blog text (26) -
The bullish stock market and stock market buoyancy reinforced each other, creating an upward spiral with prolonged growth in income and wealth.
Academic text (2001) -
The key problem is that the standard practice of benchmarking pay to that of peers only exacerbates an unjustified upward spiral.
Blog text (25)
Synonyms
Antonyms
How Positive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense of direction ('upward' = improving/rising) combined with 'spiral' (a revolving, often accelerating process) makes the overall idea of a self-reinforcing improvement reasonably inferable from the parts. However, the use of 'spiral' as a metaphor for a reinforcing, accelerating pattern (often contrasted with 'downward spiral') is somewhat idiomatic and may not be fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Upward spiral may come from the image of a spiral that goes upward, like a twisting staircase or a swirl of smoke that keeps rising with each turn. That's why people use it for a situation that 'gets better' and keeps improving over time.