Did you know?
Here’s our spiel on spiel: it’s well-known as a noun, and you may also be aware that spiel can be used as a verb meaning “to talk extravagantly,” but did you know that the verb can also mean “to play music”? That, in fact, is the word’s original meaning, and one it shares with its German root, spielen. (Spiel is also found in glockenspiel, the name of a musical instrument similar to the xylophone.) In Scottish English, spiel is also sometimes used as a shortened form of bonspiel, which refers to a match or tournament of the icy game of curling.
Examples of spiel in a Sentence
Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2021
Just landed: Travel news Have podcast, will virtually travel: A good travel podcast acts as an aural postcard, spieling out details about a destination for an audience that’s not jetting off—yet.
—Susan Seubert, National Geographic, 13 May 2020
Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2024
Her goal was to paint a fuller picture, to chronicle the thefts and failures, debunk the marketing spiel, and underline the risks in the process.
—Joel Khalili, WIRED, 30 May 2023
See all Example Sentences for spiel 
Dictionary Entries Near spiel
Cite this Entry
“Spiel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spiel. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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