spidery

[ spahy-duh-ree ]

/ ˈspaɪ də ri /

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adjective

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Origin of spidery

First recorded in 1830–40; spider + -y¹

Words nearby spidery

spider vein, spider wasp, spiderweb, spiderwood, spiderwort, spidery, spiegeleisen, spiel, Spielberg, Spielberg, Steven, spieler

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use spidery in a sentence

More than 100 radio telescopes — from spidery antennas hunkered low to the ground to supersized versions of Reber’s dish that span hundreds of meters — dot the globe.
How radio astronomy put new eyes on the cosmos|Christopher Crockett|August 31, 2021|Science News
A spidery network of quiet gravel roads, many of which are used by the 70- and 100-kilometer Rasputista Spring Classic gravel races, are right out the door.
New Rules of Adventure: The Northeast|Outside Editors|December 15, 2020|Outside Online
Soon Stilts would be stepping his spidery legs over me to face off with Frank.
‘Tracing the Blue Light’: Read Chapter 1 of Eileen Cronin’s ‘Mermaid’|Eileen Cronin|April 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Around the edges in her own spidery scrawl she would ask how I was.
She Taught Me to Cook—and Called Me a Klutz|Sandra McElwaine|August 6, 2009|DAILY BEAST

Here is a large pile of spectacles, a spidery mass of rusted wire-frames and dusty lenses.
My Visit To Hell|Christopher Buckley|January 30, 2009|DAILY BEAST
She begins by a ruthless survey of corners, floors, spidery rafters, and grimy windows.
The Terms of Surrender|Louis Tracy
Aunt Ann with her ringlets, and her spidery kind hands, and her grave old aquiline smile—a fine old lady, Aunt Ann!
The Forsyte Saga, Volume III.|John Galsworthy
It was a light frame of white metal bars, with spidery coils and huge glowing tubes and flimsy spinning disks mounted in it.
Astounding Stories, July, 1931|Various
There was a crackling, and the long, spidery limbs quivered and writhed.
The Forgotten Planet|Murray Leinster
Hazy forms materialized on the lighted disk—the cage of the transparent, woven basket—dark spidery forms within.
Wanderer of Infinity|Harl Vincent

British Dictionary definitions for spidery

spidery

/ (ˈspaɪdərɪ) /

adjective

thin and angular like a spider's legsspidery handwriting

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012