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
-
have spieledperfect
-
has spieledperfect
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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:
Partway through his spiel, Burns activated the speaker on his iPhone and held it to the microphone so the president could address the crowd.
From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2026
Upon landing, the flight attendant’s voice rang over the intercom to give us the usual spiel as our aircraft made its way to the jet bridge.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2026
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
"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
I tapped my foot while they went through their daily spiel.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
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
He was hired to do sleight-of-hand tricks at a shop in Manhattan and later had his first writing credit, a 1946 booklet, “The Encyclopedia of Patter,” inspired by magicians’ onstage spiels.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 9, 2023
His crooked sixpence will fill many an eye, and the more he spiels the better it is for you.
From The Bartlett Mystery by Louis Tracy
Moses sipped, while his team spieled tasting notes that reminded me of a Shel Silverstein poem.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 4, 2016
"You can't lose," spieled a full-page ad by Doubleday & Co. in the New York Times Book Review.
From Time Magazine Archive
One source of exuberance is that, rather than seeming sung or danced or chanted, a lot of production numbers seem spieled or shilled; they have a contagious carnival air, a ballyhoo rhythm.
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
A clipped, insinuating voice spieled words whose meaning I couldn't catch and I was about to pass on when I saw the boy.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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
One night, while listening to a radio announcer spieling a tasteless commercial, Gagman Roger Price exploded.
From Time Magazine Archive
When the going is easy, he is the spieling image of his father.
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
And ten-twent-thirt trouping, and county-fair spieling, and selling Dr. Thunder Rapids' Choctaw Herbal Sensitizer.
From Free Air by Sinclair Lewis
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
