straighten
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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straightens,
present (3rd person singular)
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straightened,
past participle, past
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straightening
present participle
verb
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to make or become straight
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(tr) to make neat or tidy
straighten your desk
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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straightenernoun
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overstraightenverb
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restraightenverb
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prestraightenverb (used with object)
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unstraightenedadjective
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well-straightenedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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straightensimple
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straightenssimple
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have straightenedperfect
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has straightenedperfect
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am straighteningprogressive
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are straighteningprogressive
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is straighteningprogressive
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have been straighteningperfect progressive
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has been straighteningperfect progressive
Past
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straightenedsimple
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had straightenedperfect
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was straighteningprogressive
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were straighteningprogressive
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had been straighteningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of straighten
Explanation
When you straighten something, you either unbend it or tidy it up. So you might straighten your legs, get off the couch, and straighten the room. To make something straight is to straighten it. When you uncross your legs and stretch them out in front of you, you straighten them. And if you adjust a picture on the wall so it's perfectly level, you straighten it. In the the 14th century, the equivalent verb was straight — so in those days, your mom would have said, "Straight your bedroom before you go out with your friends!"
Vocabulary lists containing straighten
List 10
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"The Giving Tree"
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Spelling Practice 3, Unit 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“You have New Orleans, which has a crime problem. We’ll straighten that out in two weeks, easier than D.C.,”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
It took a meeting with the inflation-slaying giant of a former Fed chair, Paul Volcker, to straighten him out.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2025
Should these innings be used to straighten out previously-successful relievers such as Treinen and Scott?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025
"Can y'all come straighten it up over here? It's not looking luxurious," Sean "Diddy" Combs says in a voice note to his personal assistants as R&B music mellows in the background.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025
She nods as I straighten, running for the door like she’s popped from a spring.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
The Mercator map is arguably the best for this purpose, because it straightens out spiraling rhumb lines, and that’s why it rose to dominance.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2026
Whatever you wear, I hope you share M&M’s and popcorn with someone who straightens your crown.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2024
“These are the people who died fighting against the junta,” says Vala as he straightens a bouquet that’s fallen over near the grave of his brother-in-law.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2024
These optical imperfections bend the images of straight lines into gnarled curves that the calibration effectively straightens out.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2024
The guard straightens the back of his navy blue baseball cap with his left hand, curving the bill with his right.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
She's ready, she says, well, shortly after she's blow dried and straightened her hair.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
A very kind woman working behind the desk straightened me out: I was being too literal.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2025
Bigklit, formerly Indigo Vanity: That’s what a lot of people knew me for: the curly, big half-pink, half-black hair with my straightened bangs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025
“The tears that I have shed over this, the frustration, the hours on the phone, trying to get it straightened out,” said Reisen, who lives in the Philadelphia area.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2025
I straightened myself up in the glass of a shop window and went to the dressmaker’s, where I had asked about work before, but that position had been filled long ago.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
"Great effort went into straightening rivers to harness them for our use, but also into enabling agriculture by draining the wetlands."
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
“It is a little more of the same, but it is going to be straightening out,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
As he arrived, straightening his tie, to be confirmed in the top job in central London 10 days ago, I asked him why he'd taken so long.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
She’s known for straightening out the oil industry in Venezuela, making sure they could make money off it.
From Slate ● Jan. 5, 2026
It’s the end of the day, and she is cleaning up her classroom, straightening rows of desks, and sorting piles and piles of paper.
From "Watch Us Rise" by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
