0 the action of something that was wrapped tightly around itself becoming straight: --
1 the act of showing a film on a screen: --
Her grandmother's reaction to that telephone call sparked the gradual unspooling of a long-held family secret.
The novel is more than another unspooling of life in the Hollywood shark-tank.
"The Ten Commandments," half a century after its creation, still gets a regular prime-time network unspooling.
2 the process of something becoming less strong or less under control: --