Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A lengthy or extravagant speech or argument usually intended to persuade.
- v. To talk or say (something) at length or extravagantly.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A game; play; a curling-match.
- n. Talk; a yarn; lingo; patter.
Wiktionary
- n. A lengthy and extravagant speech or argument usually intended to persuade.
- n. A fast excuse or sales pitch.
- v. To talk at length.
WordNet 3.0
- v. replay (as a melody)
- n. plausible glib talk (especially useful to a salesperson)
- v. speak at great length (about something)
Etymologies
- The word has two possible etymologies: (Wiktionary)
- German, play, or Yiddish shpil, both from Middle High German spil, from Old High German. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Our standard spiel is to describe our work in the region.”
Wonk Room » Goldberg: Talking About Israel With Arabs Is Hate Speech
“The spiel is a mix of ecology, myth-busting (water moccasins are not found in this region) and safety tips (most bites occur when someone is trying to catch the snake).”
The Washington Post: Michael Shwedick's career handling reptiles came from childhood fascination
“Today the sales spiel is that variation (a) isn't a safe bet, either, because "minor league" soccer on the West Coast may be ending soon.”
“Her spiel is about relationships and making the best of your relationships.”
“Teenagers saving the world spiel is seen all too often, but O.K.,”
“That spiel from the photographer about his battle against sexual inequalities and such is nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to get some feminist backside waving in front of his semi-erect self, and to get some hench pictures of boobies and so forth.”
“Left Behind, that whole spiel is why I can't spend much time reading HA anymore.”
“The petitioners, and the amici in support, exude the typical spiel from the environmental community that Bush is bad because he doesn't support their our-way-or-no-way agenda.”
“Part of the Yahoo! spiel is that they see themselves as having one of the world's best kitchens for chefs to come in and do their thing.”
“His spiel is word-for-word identical in every seminar (I observed parts of three) but sounds spontaneous.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spiel’.
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Talk Talk
Words for Talking
( open list, randomness )squawk, gab, chatter, chitchat, blab, prattle, blather, discuss, hector, plead, cajole, harangue and 200 more...
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SPOR - Olympic glossary
weightlift, orbitale, figure skate, speed skate, synchronizer, equestrian sport, bobsleigh, starting block, diesis, ligne, piste, water ski and 521 more...
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Yiddishkeit
There are a few short lists of Yiddish words, but none appropriate to the glory of the language, and none that are open. Thought I'd start one, and would love contributions. I'm tagging as I go, an...
schmuck, nosh, chutzpah, shtick, kvetch, oy vey, oy gevalt, shvitz, shtik, shiksa, putz, mensch and 94 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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Learned
tutti, donnybrook, lambent, spiel, aberrant, asperity, abstruse, debauch, ebullient, Lebensraum, eschew, intersperse
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Verecund, flivver, etc
Just some words I happen to enjoy. Some thread-worn, some not.
yegg, yob, verecund, amatory, fermata, threepenny, gruntled, flivver, gamboge, decolletage, ordure, nudnik and 175 more...
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generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
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In communication
smoke signal, foot-in-mouth dis..., clandestine, sardonic, spiel
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Slang words of Irish origin according...
Compare the etymologies of these words as given in the OED with the Gaelic backgrounders in this book, How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads (Counterpunch, 2007). Awai...
smack, snazzy, pussy, geek, dork, dude, smudge, snap, slugger, slum, scam, slew and 102 more...
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My Words
Words that I use regularly and consider mine.
zen, poser, savvy, angst, flustered, bitter, whatsoever, farfetched, indeed, scenario, inevitable, salvage and 134 more...
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Dain's Words
rabble, terminus, archaic, atavism, demiurge, waylay, syzygy, jocoserious, quark, entropy, cinnabar, shamble and 912 more...
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litigious semantics
ad unguem, abeyance, choleric, contentious, curmudgeonly, churlish, dictatorial, vindictive, dogmatic, truculent, mutinous, refractory and 254 more...
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My List
A list of words that I have generated over time.
cairn, cacodaemoniacal, abash, abject, abjure, abstemious, abhor, abnegate, abnegation, abscond, abstruse, acclivity and 702 more...
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words from the German
kindergarten, sturm und drang, schadenfreude, zeppelin, blitzkreig, blitz, krieg, panzer, angst, nazi, zeitgeist, doppelganger and 107 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for spiel.
silas
German
das Spiel (n.) - a game; backlash
spielen (v.) - to play
I had never seen this word in writing before, except in German class. Then, one day, trying to write about someone who had given a spiel, I looked it up and could not believe they were spelled exactly the same way. I will always feel odd using this word now. Sep 19, 2009
azd verb, to reel off; recite : he solemnly spieled all he knew. Apr 8, 2007