unravel
to separate or disentangle the threads of (a woven or knitted fabric, a rope, etc.).
to free from complication or difficulty; make plain or clear; solve: to unravel a situation; to unravel a mystery.
Informal. to take apart; undo; destroy (a plan, agreement, or arrangement).
to become unraveled.
Origin of unravel
1Other words from unravel
- un·rav·el·er; especially British, un·rav·el·ler, noun
- un·rav·el·ment, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use unravel in a sentence
Archaeologists recently used a CT scanner to unravel part of the dead person’s story.
Ancient embalmers used mud to hold a damaged mummy together | Kiona N. Smith | February 4, 2021 | Ars TechnicaHe begins to unravel, pleading with the reader not to turn pages, and attempts to block the way with ropes, planks and bricks.
50 years later, ‘The Monster at the End of This Book’ is still selling — and inspiring authors | Danny Freedman | January 27, 2021 | Washington PostTold over the span of five decades, a family slowly unravels after the patriarch finds success.
This big-picture explanation makes intuitive sense, but actually unraveling what’s going in your body at different stages in a race has turned out to be more complicated than expected.
As a result, I’ve always been fascinated by attempts to unravel the physiology and psychology of the finishing kick.
Her history is already being unravelled, thread by thread, and stitch by stitch.
Dorothy's Travels | Evelyn RaymondHe is entirely too literary to be understood without previous training, and his allegory is not so easily unravelled.
At Stirling Castle it will be convenient to take our next stand, and see “the mazy Forth unravelled.”
It was a warning to his and to Hartley's followers that they had not thoroughly unravelled the perplexity but only cut the knot.
The English Utilitarians, Volume I. | Leslie StephenThe last thing he wrote was the "Mystery of Edwin Drood," the mystery of which is still unravelled.
Masterpieces of Mystery In Four Volumes | Various
British Dictionary definitions for unravel
/ (ʌnˈrævəl) /
(tr) to reduce (something knitted or woven) to separate strands
(tr) to undo or untangle (something tangled or knotted)
(tr) to explain or solve: the mystery was unravelled
(intr) to become unravelled
Derived forms of unravel
- unraveller, noun
- unravelment, noun
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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