unlock
to undo the lock of (a door, chest, etc.), especially with a key.
to open or release by or as if by undoing a lock.
to open (anything firmly closed or joined): to unlock the jaws.
to lay open; disclose: to unlock the secrets of one's heart.
to become unlocked.
Origin of unlock
1Other words from unlock
- un·lock·a·ble, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use unlock in a sentence
At that point, the Library of Congress can once again decide to prohibit consumers from unlocking their cell phones.
Nazis, Sunscreen, and Sea Gull Eggs: Congress in 2014 Was Hella Productive | Ben Jacobs | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHitchcock enunciates these questions slowly, as if each one is the key to unlocking the mysteries of the script.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMr. Wilde clambered to the floor and unlocking the cabinet, took a long square box from the first shelf.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show | Robert W. Chambers | February 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Unknowns: A Novel By Gabriel Roth A debut novel about unlocking the code of the millennial heart.
On Tuesday the president unveiled his BRAIN initiative, aimed at unlocking the mysteries of the human brain.
Obama Launches BRAIN Initiative to Map the Human Brain | Eliza Shapiro | April 3, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
The unlocking of the yard door would apprise us of the entrance of a guard, before the latter could observe Wingie at my cell.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander BerkmanAs Mr. Worby was unlocking it, Lake said, "Did you ever find anybody locked in here by accident?"
A Thin Ghost and Others | M. R. (Montague Rhodes) JamesThe tiller is unlocked by simply flicking forward the cylinder with the hand, the locking and unlocking being done in a second.
Yachting Vol. 2 | Various.When I got to the three log doorsteps I heard them unlocking and unbarring and unbolting.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete | Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)He made the mere unlocking of the door a nerve-racking sound, and stamped in swearing under his breath.
The Light That Lures | Percy Brebner
British Dictionary definitions for unlock
/ (ʌnˈlɒk) /
(tr) to unfasten (a lock, door, etc)
(tr) to open, release, or let loose
(tr) to disclose or provide the key to: unlock a puzzle
(intr) to become unlocked
Derived forms of unlock
- unlockable, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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