spider web

American  

Or spider's web

noun

1. the web that is spun by a spider, made of interlaced threads of viscous fluid that harden on exposure to air.

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Etymology

Origin of spider web

First recorded in 1525–35

Example Sentences

"I'm really interested to see what they do on that," she said, adding that processing still includes a "spider web of entities" where Chinese officials maintain outsized control.

From Barron's • Oct. 30, 2025

Now Wall Street prices could be quoted the same day in Philadelphia, and soon in Boston, Buffalo and west to the Mississippi as the telegraph covered the nation like a spider web.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 28, 2025

Lifshitz, an 85-year-old grandmother who was freed by Hamas, said that after she was seized, she was taken into underground tunnels that she compared to a spider web.

From Reuters • Nov. 22, 2023

In winter, the mangroves shed all their leaves, leaving thin white trunks, like a giant spider web.

From BBC • Oct. 21, 2023

They came with the wind that blows in August, thin as a spider web and barely noticed.

From "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros