spider web
16
1.4
- noun
- /ˈspaɪdər wɛb/
- Moonlight silvers the spider web, and for a moment its strands seem to fill the room.
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Watch on YouTubeThat it spider's web is a brilliant symbol of it.
- That it spider's web is a brilliant symbol of it.
- And if you think about a complete spider's web, it looks a lot like a labyrinth.
- There's an old African proverb that goes when spider webs unite, they can halt even the lion.
- And suddenly the atmosphere changed again and I felt like a spider's web on my face.
- So I've always seen spider webs and you know how they go from like a tree to the top of like, a roof or it'll be like a really long distance.
- You're in this bouncy spider web and you're just bouncing.
- It's kind of like a spider web, right?
Examples
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On the far side of the stream, she saw a splendid spider web, shot with rainbows.
Fiction book (2001) -
The artist used the delicate pattern of a spider web as inspiration for her new painting.
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Oh, look, his leg is caught in the spider web.
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I touched a spider web.
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In a high corner of the room, shadows wavered over a spider web.
Fiction book (1993) -
Yes, I have noticed lots of spider webs on the front porch.
Blog text (28) -
But the shed smelled of rats, ant hills, dust, and spider webs.
Fiction book (1999) -
If you walk in the garden, be careful not to disturb the spider web in the corner.
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After the rain, the spider web sparkled with tiny droplets like jewels.
Synonyms
57
1.0
A thin, flat part joining other parts, for example a spider's net or skin between toes
20
1.4
A dusty net spiders make that hangs in old unused places
3
1.0
A net of thin sticky threads made by a spider to catch insects
1
1.0
A fine net of silk that a spider makes to catch insects
1
7.4
A round spider net with straight lines from the center and rings of sticky thread
1
8.1
A pattern of fine cracks that spread like a spider's web on a surface
1
6.8
A flat net of spider silk that hangs like a small hammock
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a silken structure made by a spider' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'spider' (the maker) with 'web' (a netlike structure); this is a straightforward noun+noun compound specifying the type of web. Such compositional, cross-linguistically common constructions follow ordinary word-formation patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
The noun spider web comes from the real webs a spider spins from fine silk to catch insects. That's why we call the silken net itself, or anything that 'looks like' that fine, sticky structure, a spider web.