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spiral2 past tense and past participle spiralled, present participle spiralling British English, past tense and past participle spiraled, present participle spiraling American English [intransitive]
1 [always + adverb/preposition] to move in a continuous curve that gets nearer to or further from its central point as it goes round
2 if a situation spirals, it gets worse, more violent etc in a way that cannot be controlled :
3 if debt or the cost of something spirals, it increases quickly in a way that cannot be controlled
—spiralling British English ; spiraling American English adjective: 
the spiralling cost of legal services
the spiralling cost of legal services