Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Capable of being spun: Describes a material, such as a fiber or filament, that has the physical properties allowing it to be twisted and drawn out into thread or yarn.
   • Susceptible to being influenced: Describes a person, narrative, or situation that can be easily manipulated, shaped, or presented with a particular bias, especially by skilled communication or propaganda.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Material Property):
  • Wool is a highly spinnable fiber, prized by hand-spinners.
  • The new synthetic material was not spinnable using traditional methods.
• Adjective (Susceptibility to Influence):
  • The journalist worried the story was spinnable and could be used for political gain.
  • He is a very spinnable individual, easily swayed by persuasive arguments.

Advanced Usage

• "in a spinnable form": Refers to a material prepared or processed into a state ready for spinning.
  • The cotton must be carded into a spinnable form before it can be used on the wheel.
• "a spinnable narrative": Describes an account of events that is particularly vulnerable to being reinterpreted or manipulated to support a specific viewpoint.
  • The lack of clear facts left a spinnable narrative open to interpretation by both sides.

Variants and Related Words

• Spin (verb): The core action. 1. To draw out and twist fibers into thread. 2. To present information in a biased way.
• Spinner (noun): 1. A person or machine that spins fibers. 2. A person, especially in public relations or politics, who shapes narratives.
• Spinning (noun/adj): 1. The process or activity of creating yarn. 2. The act of manipulating information (e.g., ).

Synonyms

• (For material): Workable, pliable, ductile (in a textile context).
• (For influence): Malleable, impressionable, persuadable, manipulable.

Related Phrases

• To spin a yarn: This idiom plays on both meanings. Literally, it means to make thread. Figuratively, it means to tell a long, elaborate, and often fanciful story.
  • He loves to spin a yarn about his adventures at sea.
• Spin control: The practice of attempting to influence public perception by shaping the narrative around an event.
  • The company's PR team went into immediate spin control after the scandal broke.

Adjective

1. capable of being spun into fibres
2. capable or susceptible to being influenced by biased information