unspooled; unspooling; unspools
1
: to unwind from a spool
unspool the cable
2
: to execute or present artfully or gracefully
unspooled a jump shot
unspooling an intricate tale
: to be presented or revealed on or as if on a movie screen
Examples of unspool in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Advertisement Advertisement The story is ingeniously—or pretentiously, depending on your mood—constructed to unspool backward, beginning with the third act and ending with the first.
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Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 6 June 2025
That must have been really challenging to unspool as well.
—Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 23 May 2025
Both shows highlight her singular ability to unspool memory, migration and material.
—Elly Fishman, New York Times, 22 May 2025
The characters in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels have a tendency to unspool when faced with their Rube Goldberg prompt to do so, the three-act nature of their memories ripe for successful cinema adaptation.
—Blake Simons, IndieWire, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for unspool
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Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 6 June 2025
That must have been really challenging to unspool as well.
—Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 23 May 2025
Both shows highlight her singular ability to unspool memory, migration and material.
—Elly Fishman, New York Times, 22 May 2025
The characters in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels have a tendency to unspool when faced with their Rube Goldberg prompt to do so, the three-act nature of their memories ripe for successful cinema adaptation.
—Blake Simons, IndieWire, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for unspool
Cite this Entry
“Unspool.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unspool. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
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