spider web

Thân thiện

A spider web glistens with morning dew in the garden.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A web spun by spiders to trap insect prey: A structure of very fine, sticky threads (silk) created by a spider, used to catch insects for food.
   • A web resembling the webs spun by spiders: Any delicate, intricate, or interconnected structure that looks similar to a spider's web.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The morning dew glistened on the intricate spider web in the garden.
  • A fly was hopelessly trapped in the sticky spider web.
  • The old attic was filled with a thick spider web of dust and cobwebs. (Here, it resembles a spider's web.)
  • The investigation uncovered a complex spider web of lies and deceit. (Figurative use, resembling a complex, interconnected structure.)

Advanced Usage

• Figurative Use: Often used metaphorically to describe any complex, interconnected, and often entangling system.
  • He was caught in a spider web of bureaucratic regulations.
• "Spider's web": A common alternative possessive form with the same meaning.
  • The children were fascinated by the beautiful spider's web.

Variants and Related Words

• Cobweb (n): Typically refers to an old, dusty spider web, often found in abandoned places. It can also be used more generally to mean any spider web.
• Web (n): A more general term that can mean a spider web, but also any network or interconnected structure (e.g., , ).

Synonyms

• Cobweb (for an old web)
• Snare (a trap, similar in function)
• Network (for the figurative sense of an interconnected structure)

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "A tangled web": Often used in the phrase "Oh, what a tangled web we weave..." to describe a complicated and deceptive situation one creates for oneself.
  • By lying to his boss, he began to weave a tangled web that was hard to escape.
• "Like a fly in a spider's web": Used to describe someone who is trapped in a situation from which it is very difficult to escape.
  • The innocent company was caught like a fly in a spider's web of corporate fraud.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a web spun by spiders to trap insect prey
2. a web resembling the webs spun by spiders

Từ đồng nghĩa

• spider's web