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spider web

American  
Or spider's web

noun

  1. the web that is spun by a spider, made of interlaced threads of viscous fluid that harden on exposure to air.


Etymology

Origin of spider web

First recorded in 1525–35

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.

"I'm really interested to see what they do on that," she said, adding that processing still includes a "spider web of entities" where Chinese officials maintain outsized control.

From Barron's

In 2013, Ortega-Jiménez found that spider webs can exploit the electrical charge of nearby insects to draw them in and trap them.

From Science Daily

Now Wall Street prices could be quoted the same day in Philadelphia, and soon in Boston, Buffalo and west to the Mississippi as the telegraph covered the nation like a spider web.

From The Wall Street Journal

In the years since the commission’s 2005 decision, abandoned power lines have continued to pose a threat, with hundreds of miles of the unused transmission lines running like spider webs through California.

From Los Angeles Times

“Everywhere you look, every corner of this school, there’s something going on. There is a giant spider web. Butterflies and bees zip around. There’s bird nests in the bushes.”

From Los Angeles Times