Preposition: into

• oblivion: They were doomed to the downward spiral into oblivion as surely as the unreformed alcoholic.

Converse of object

• bind: Handy format, spiral bound, maps, full route details, points of interest, history, photos.

• never-end: Thus, whole communities were caught in a never-ending spiral of debt.

• escalate: Rather than paving a smooth path to the court, it was causing an escalating spiral of partisan warfare and personal attack.

Adjective modifier

• downward: Many go into a wretched downward spiral, passed from owner to owner.

• upward: Such places benefit from a virtuous circle, or upward spiral, whereby talent attracts talent.

• vicious: It is a vicious spiral, which the current approach to health care is incompetent to solve.

• inflationary: It could also lead to an inflationary rent spiral.

• deflationary: Japan is now caught in the same sort of deflationary spiral which gripped the world economy during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

• unhealthy: I have used only one of these on an unhealthy spiral.

Modifies a noun

• staircase: Access via spiral staircase inside the main church door to a small ringing chamber.

• galaxy: NGC 300 is a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way.

• bevel: Its 3 speed gearbox had right hand control and along with the spiral bevel rear axle was designed and manufactured in-house.

• stair: He led them down a spiral stair to an area of branching passage ways where a young, slender elf was waiting.

• stairway: Across to the tight spiral stairway, down into the church.

• nebula: M100, one of the spiral nebulae, in the nearby Virgo cluster of galaxies ( AAO photo ).

Noun used with modifier

• wage-price: Wages may rise in response to this triggering off the possibility of a wage-price spiral.

• face-on: Through an extraordinary chance alignment, a face-on spiral galaxy lies precisely in front of another larger spiral.

• habit: A depression habit spiral I liked to switch off the lights when I was alone in the house and put the saddest music on.

• depression: The more strategies you try, the more chance you have of finding what works for you in turning the depression spiral around.