DictionaryAI

spell

SPEL/spɛl/

Verbspells, spelling, spelled

Noun pluralspells

20 meanings of spell

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To name aloud or set down in writing the letters that make up a word or a portion of one.

    The teacher asked each student to spell three words from the list.

    He reads well but spells poorly.

    UsageAsk how do you spell it? To give the letters one by one, spell out a word: spell out your surname.

  2. 2
    magic holdnouncountable
    Words or a formula believed to have magic power, or the magical effect or influence they produce (cast a spell; under a spell).

    According to the legend, the knight wandered for years under a spell of forgetfulness.

    When the amulet shattered, the spell over the kingdom lifted at once.

    UsageCast or put a spell on someone, who is then under a spell; to end it, break the spell.

    Similarcharm, incantation, enchantment

    Note

    The word names both the recipe and the result: the magic words themselves, and the state they leave behind. Love songs lean on it heavily: in Marty Robbins's "Devil Woman" (1962), Mary breaks one.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  3. 3
    a whilenouncountable
    A stretch of time of unspecified length, typically described with a qualifying word such as long or good; by extension, a fairly short distance.

    After a long spell of dry weather, the rains finally came.

    Their cabin sits a good spell beyond the last paved road.

    UsageUsually with a describing word: a long spell, a dry spell, a cold spell. For a spell means for a while.

    Similarperiod, stretch, patch, run, while

    Note

    Here the length is left open, and a qualifier usually sets it. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) has "whole spells" and a "long spell of silence". Weather talk relies on it too, as in a dry spell. Stretched further, it measures ground rather than time: a good spell down the road means some distance, though not a great one.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

  4. 4
    nouncountable
    A period spent doing a job or activity, such as a turn or shift of work.

    She did a brief spell as a copy editor before moving into design.

    Each volunteer took a spell at the information desk during the festival.

    UsageOften a spell as + a job or a spell at a place: a spell as a copy editor, a spell at the club.

    Similarstint, period, stretch, turn, shift

    Note

    Sports writing uses it for a stint at a club: a 2012 BBC Sport report recalls an "ill-fated spell at Anfield". In homelier speech it appears as for a spell. Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue" (1975) uses it for a stretch of kitchen work. The period is bounded, usually by a job or role that begins and ends.

  5. 5
    explainverbfigurativelytransitive
    With out: to clarify something, or to explain it in detail.

    The manual spells out the installation procedure step by step.

    She asked the agency to spell out exactly what the fee covered.

    UsageA pronoun goes in the middle: spell it out (not incorrect: spell out it). Longer objects usually follow: spell out the terms.

    Similarexplain, clarify, detail, specify, outline

    Note

    The figurative step from naming letters one by one to stating things point by point. Please spell it out for me asks for nothing to be left implied.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The explanatory sense of spell out is figurative, related to spelling words letter by letter. en.wiktionary.org
  6. 6
    lead toverbtransitive
    To point to a coming result, usually named by a single noun, as in spell disaster or spell trouble.

    Falling sales and rising costs spell disaster for the company.

    The new highway spells the end of the quiet neighborhood.

    UsageOften followed by for: this could spell trouble for the team. Also common: spell the end of something.

    Similarmean, signal, portend, herald, signify

    Note

    A verb of omens with a narrow grammar. The object is the outcome itself, usually an unwelcome one. It reads as though the situation's letters already formed the word.

  7. 7
    letters formverbtransitive
    Of letters: to compose or form (a particular word) when taken in sequence.

    Rearranged, the letters of 'silent' spell 'listen'.

    Lined up on the shelf, the alphabet blocks spelled a word that made the whole class laugh.

    Similarform, make

    Note

    The letters do the work here, not the speller: a, n and d spell and. That makes the verb a natural tool for wordplay, from initials to acronyms whose letters spell something awkward. In Totally Spies! (2006), a character points out that a villains' league spells LAMOS. In the letter-naming verb, by contrast, the subject is a person.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The referenced Totally Spies! episode, “The Dream Teens”, aired in 2006. en.wiktionary.org
    • A character points out that the villains’ league name spells LAMOS. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of spell apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 2, 9, 16, 18

Old English spell ("news, story") became Middle English spell. Behind it is Proto-Germanic *spellą ("speech, account, tale"), which goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to tell" or "to speak." Icelandic spjall ("talk") and Albanian fjalë ("word") are related.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  • Old English spell meant “news, story” and developed into Middle English spell. en.wiktionary.org
  • The word descends from Proto-Germanic *spellą, meaning “speech, account, tale”. en.wiktionary.org
  • The Proto-Germanic word derives from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to tell” or “to speak”. en.wiktionary.org
  • Icelandic spjall means “talk” and Albanian fjalë means “word”; both are cognate with English spell. en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 1, 5–7, 15, 17

Frankish *spelōn passed into Anglo-Norman and Old French as espeler and gave Middle English spellen, which merged with spellian ("to tell, speak"), a native Old English verb. Both lines go back to Proto-Germanic *spellōną ("to speak"). The meaning "indicate a future event" probably owes something to forespell ("to tell in advance"), as a backformation.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

  • Frankish *spelōn supplied Anglo-Norman and Old French espeler, from which Middle English spellen developed. en.wiktionary.org
  • The French borrowing merged with inherited Old English spellian. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old English spellian meant to tell or speak. en.wiktionary.org
  • Both the French and inherited English lines ultimately derive from Proto-Germanic *spellōną, meaning to speak. en.wiktionary.org
  • The predictive sense of spell probably arose partly through backformation from forespell. en.wiktionary.org
  • Forespell means to tell in advance. en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 3–4, 8, 10–13

Old English spelian, meaning to represent someone or to act in place of another, became Middle English spelen. Old English spala ("representative, substitute") is related.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

Meaning 14

From Middle English spele or spel ("a thin piece of wood"), perhaps from Old Norse or from Old English speld ("splinter"), and unrelated to the other spells.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  • This sense derives from Middle English spele or spel, meaning a thin piece of wood. en.wiktionary.org
  • The wood sense has a separate etymological origin from the other senses of spell. en.wiktionary.org