unfold
Americanverb (used with object)
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to bring out of a folded state; spread or open out.
Unfold your arms.
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to spread out or lay open to view.
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to reveal or display.
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to reveal or disclose in words, especially by careful or systematic exposition; set forth; explain.
verb (used without object)
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to become unfolded; open.
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to develop.
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to become clear, apparent, or known.
The protagonist's character unfolds as the story reaches its climax.
verb
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to open or spread out or be opened or spread out from a folded state
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to reveal or be revealed
the truth unfolds
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to develop or expand or be developed or expanded
Other Word Forms
- unfoldable adjective
- unfolder noun
- unfoldment noun
Etymology
Origin of unfold
before 900; Middle English unfolden, Old English unfealdan; cognate with German entfalten. See un- 2, fold 1
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.
And because art is experience, it’s essential to be willing to change your mind as your experience unfolds.
From Los Angeles Times
As personal computer use mushroomed in the 1980s and ’90s, a mystery unfolded: Where was the productivity growth that so many anticipated?
From Barron's
MacDonald, a Fellow of St John's College Cambridge, notes that as interest in literal readings increased, maps became a tool to show that biblical events unfolded in identifiable places and real time.
From Science Daily
The results indicate that long-term memory relies not on a single on/off switch, but on a sequence of gene-regulating programs that unfold like molecular timers across the brain.
From Science Daily
He emphasized that the adoption of general-purpose technologies such as electricity and the internet historically took years to unfold.
From MarketWatch
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.
