spiel
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
-
spiels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
spieled,
past participle, past
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spieling
present participle
noun
verb
-
(intr) to deliver a prepared spiel
-
to recite (a prepared oration)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
spielsimple
-
spielssimple
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have spieledperfect
-
has spieledperfect
-
am spielingprogressive
-
are spielingprogressive
-
is spielingprogressive
-
have been spielingperfect progressive
-
has been spielingperfect progressive
Past
-
spieledsimple
-
had spieledperfect
-
was spielingprogressive
-
were spielingprogressive
-
had been spielingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of spiel
First recorded in 1890–95; (for the noun) from German Spiel or Yiddish shpil “play, game”; (for the verb) from German spielen or Yiddish shpiln “to play, gamble”
Explanation
A spiel is a lengthy, often glib talk that's intended to persuade or make excuses. Infomercials feature salespeople giving a 30-minute spiel about some product. Used as a noun or verb, spiel originates from the German word spielen, meaning “to play." It's often somewhat rehearsed and should be greeted with skepticism. Upon turning 16, your child might give you a spiel about why they need a car for their birthday. In a political debate, if your stance doesn't sound original, thoughtful, and earnest, it may just come across as a spiel, leading your audience to think, "Oh, brother, there they go again."
Vocabulary lists containing spiel
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Mr. Brady pulled off Don Profondo’s patter song “Medaglie incomparabili,” a tongue-twisting list of precious objects, as an auctioneer’s spiel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2025
He has long integrated assertions about a third term into his political spiel.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2025
"The spiel that I'm reading from people saying how off it we are. We won two games on the bounce and you're upset about it, I don't get it."
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2025
Why otherwise intelligent people, including political leaders and finance professionals, swallowed his spiel whole is the enduring mystery about Bankman-Fried and crypto.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024
All those Columbia experts can spiel all they want about the delicious satire; they’re crazy.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
Wang now spends his time trying to help other victims of similar spiels.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
The playoff music, meant to signal winners to wrap up their spiels, began playing more than halfway into Brody’s speech.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2025
The stray references in these spiels are still hot, such as the one to “John Lovitz” and “SNL when it was good.”
From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2024
At the Élysée, I was surprised by Macron’s willingness to genuinely engage with my questions, rather than use them as prompts for prefab spiels.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 24, 2019
I heard the sound of the Park in full swing behind him—children’s laughter; bright, recorded animatronic spiels; the tromp of thousands of feet.
From Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
Moses sipped, while his team spieled tasting notes that reminded me of a Shel Silverstein poem.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 4, 2016
So Robbins went to the production brass of ABC, and spieled out a scenario.
From Time Magazine Archive
A high-pressure salesman trying to sell Kaufman some goldmine stock spieled dramatically: "You can shovel the gold right off the ground into wheelbarrows."
From Time Magazine Archive
"You can't lose," spieled a full-page ad by Doubleday & Co. in the New York Times Book Review.
From Time Magazine Archive
Clifton's voice came to me as he spieled his directions for making it dance, and I held it by the feet and stretched its neck, seeing it crumple and slide forward.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
In a few hours he would be on a campus stage singing his songs and spieling his narrative jazz poetry to an audience of college kids.
From Time Magazine Archive
Undergraduate Sibley's job was to stand dumbly but alluringly beside the freaks while the barker was spieling.
From Time Magazine Archive
With more than 850 photographs and drawings, Phillips' documentary spews images at double-quick newsreel speed while spieling commentary at the tempo of a tobacco auctioneer.
From Time Magazine Archive
After spieling off a few tips about grip and stance, he belts out a few balls.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was such a cinch that Merritt, who looked after the snake while I did the spieling and sold tickets on the front, commenced to get worried for fear we should lose him.
From Side Show Studies by Oliver Herford
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
