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Glite Dictionary
spiderwebbing

spiderwebbing

8.1
A pattern of fine cracks that spread like a spider's web on a surface
  • noun
  • /ˈspaɪdərˌwɛbɪŋ/
translation icon : craquelado
  • After the car accident, spiderwebbing formed on the windshield where it had been struck.

Examples

  • The old painting had spiderwebbing across its surface, indicating years of neglect and damage.

  • Spiderwebbing flashed over the scald of the sun.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Even the stone had tiny fissures, though most of it; cracks too minute for the eye to catch, but she could feel them with the power in her, spiderwebbing domes and towers.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The artist used a technique that created spiderwebbing patterns on the canvas, reminiscent of delicate cracks.

Synonyms

crazing
vsspiderwebbing
  • Specialized
1 8.4

A network of very small cracks on the surface of pottery, glass, or painted objects

is a similar weblike cracking pattern that appears broadly after surface damage

How Damaged

shattering
17 4.2
spiderwebbing
8.1

Surface Forms

spiderwebbing singular
spiderwebbings plural

Morphology

spiderwebbing = spiderweb (semi-transparent) = spider + web + ing

The form is built regularly from 'spiderweb' plus '-ing', but the sense of surface cracking is a metaphorical extension rather than a fully literal everyday meaning.

Etymology

Spiderwebbing comes from spider and web because the fine cracks or lines look like a spider's web 'spreading out' from a point. So, spiderwebbing means that web-like pattern of cracks you see on glass, paint, or screens after they are damaged.