going spiral

The exact opposite of "going viral." Occurs in a manner akin to Sisyphus attempting to push a boulder up a hill only to have it roll down again and again, endlessly. Use "going spiral" to describe endless striving that yields no results in spite of one's best efforts.

Even my best stories will never go viral. I'm doomed to a life of "going spiral," always circling the drain.

by Spiral-Sisyphus November 13, 2020

swing on the spiral

A phrase used in a tool song...lateralus. It's a message telling people to keep going.

"swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human....Spiral out. Keep going, going..." -Tool

It's the best song ever...

by Brittany Padilla July 27, 2005

shame spiral

The feeling you get afterer a long night or weekend of binge drinking or partying. Usually as a result of getting nothing accomplished the following day. Sinking into an abyss of regret.

Instead of writing my paper for class on Sunday, I stayed in bed and rode out the Shame Spiral I found myself in.

by daknob March 20, 2014

wiki spiral

Going to a article and finding interesting links, and following links to same site, for a long time, like you were in a trance.

Man, I wikipediaed "Mongolian Grill", and I wiki spiraled for an hour before my boss caught me.

by zzDump October 17, 2009

downward spiral

the term downward spiral is commonly used to describe depression and/or drug abuse, but can be applied to anything that starts out bad and just gets worse and worse and worse.

a downard spiral is illustrated in the book and movie Requiem For A Dream.

basic plot-

use a drug once
use it again
and again
and again
get an addiction
spend all your money on your addiction
start selling the drug to make money to pay for the addiction
use the drugs for yourself instead of selling them to pay for your own (why you should never sell the drug you do, if you sell at all)
fuck yerself over so badly you die, possibly from overdose, maybe you get shot by a drug dealer, maybe you kill yerself because you realize youve fucked your life over.

person1: i heard some girl died.. what happened?
person2: she was fine, then she got a crush on a guy who did drugs, so she started to do drugs, then became a junkie, then overdosed, and is now six feet under.
person1: oh, thats sad.
person2: just the typical downward spiral. happens all the time...
person1: ...that sucks.
person2: basically. lets go eat ice cream.
person1: deal.

by ghettostarchild October 1, 2007

Shame Spiral

Noun: An emotional condition commonly experienced during the recovery period following extreme intoxication. The shame spiral consists of continued, connected thoughts and emotions of lack of self-worth, shame, regret, embarassment and commitments to refuse to intoxicate oneself ever again.

Verb: To be emotionally engaged in the condition of a shame spiral.

Simon: How's it going, Chris? You awake yet?
Gary: Oh god I'm so hungover. I hate this. I hate myself. I'm never doing that again. What kind of a jack-ass was I last night?

Simon: C'mon, quit shame spiralling. It's no big deal. So, you got a little bit wasted last night.

Gary: I spent my last $50 on booze last night. I hate myself and want to die. I'm never drinking again. I can't believe I hit on my student last night. I'm such a pig. Go away.

by Simon Kiss December 15, 2006

Urban Spiral

When you delve deep into urban dictionary and can't get out the spiral

Fuck dude I fell into another urban spiral last night, I could tell you all about the plumpkin

by BumFiddler April 27, 2023