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Glite Dictionary
🪲 A silk-spinning insect 🔄 A loading icon
web spinner

web spinner

3.9
A small spinning image on a website that shows the page is loading
  • noun
  • Texting
translation icon : indicador de carga
  • Clicking the button replaced the form with a web spinner until submission finished.

Examples

  • The page shows a web spinner while the images load in the background.

  • The web spinner indicates that the page is loading.

  • Users complained that the slow web spinner made the site feel unresponsive on mobile.

  • Many websites use a web spinner to show progress.

  • The page displays a web spinner to indicate that the content is loading.

  • When I submit the form, a web spinner appears until the process is complete.

  • The slow web spinner caused frustration for many users trying to navigate the site.

Synonyms

spinning wheel
vsweb spinner
  • Specialized
1 4.2

A small circle on the screen that spins to show the computer is busy

is similar but covers any small rotating graphic, not only circular ones
spinner
vsweb spinner
  • Texting
3.5

A moving icon that shows a page or app is loading

is the same concept but often called by a different name in contexts

How Informative

icon
  • Specialized
89 3.9
web spinner
  • Texting
3.9

Surface Forms

web spinner singular
web spinners plural

Morphology

web + spinner

The term combines 'web' in its technological sense (website) with 'spinner' as a rotating object, so a learner who recognises those senses can plausibly infer a rotating graphic shown on a website. However, those senses are technical extensions of the basic meanings (spider web, person who spins) and the connection to a loading indicator is somewhat jargonistic, so the relation is only partially predictable for a B1 learner.

Etymology

The noun web spinner names the small picture on a website that turns while a page loads. The name puts together web (the internet page) and spinner (something that spins), so it shows the site is 'loading' or 'working'.