coil
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To wind or move in a spiral course.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
koylIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɔɪl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To wind or move in a spiral course
“The muscles and nerves of his fine drawn body were coiling for action.”
To wind or reel e.g. a wire or rope into regular rings, often around a centerpiece.
To wind into loops (roughly) around a common center.
Wind around something in coils or loops
To wind cylindrically or spirally.
To build a pot (etc) with clay coils.
noun
electronics
A coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow.
Any intrauterine device (abbreviation: IUD)—the first IUDs were coil-shaped.
A structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops
Tubing that is wound in a spiral
Something wound in the form of a helix or spiral.
A cylinder of clay.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To wind or move in a spiral course
Used this way, coil is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The muscles and nerves of his fine drawn body were coiling for action.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “coil for …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: coil for …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use coil
- “The muscles and nerves of his fine drawn body were coiling for action.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Curled or wound (especially in concentric rings or spirals).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A spring in the shape of a coil.
An induction coil that converts current from a battery into the high-voltage current required by spark plugs.
A coil for producing a high voltage from a low-voltage source.
A galvanometer that is operated by the force exerted by an electric current flowing in a movable coil suspended in a magnetic field.
An arrangement of coils used in sensitive electrical instruments.
Coil forming the part of an electrical circuit such that changing current in it induces a current in a neighboring circuit.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to wind or move in a spiral course
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.