disentangle
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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disentangles,
present (3rd person singular)
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disentangled,
past participle, past
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disentangling
present participle
verb
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to release or become free from entanglement or confusion
-
(tr) to unravel or work out
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disentanglesimple
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disentanglessimple
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have disentangledperfect
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has disentangledperfect
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am disentanglingprogressive
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are disentanglingprogressive
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is disentanglingprogressive
-
have been disentanglingperfect progressive
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has been disentanglingperfect progressive
Past
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disentangledsimple
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had disentangledperfect
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was disentanglingprogressive
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were disentanglingprogressive
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had been disentanglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disentangle
Explanation
When you disentangle something, you free it from a snarl or tangle. If you have long hair and pierced ears, you've probably had to disentangle an earring from a curl of hair. Something that becomes tangled or twisted needs someone to disentangle it — you might disentangle your kitten from a length of yarn, or disentangle your jacket from a thorny bush when you're hiking through the woods. You can also disentangle someone figuratively, helping them get out of an uncomfortable or difficult situation. Tangle is at the heart of disentangle, from the fourteenth century word tagilen, "to involve in a difficult situation."
Vocabulary lists containing disentangle
The Miracle Worker
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James and the Giant Peach
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Swindle
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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:
The science is not yet settled, of course, and it can be difficult to disentangle cause from effect.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
That’s because the bubble’s promoters are promising that they can replace labor, so you can’t disentangle those two.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
It can be hard to disentangle El Niño’s influence from extreme weather, which itself seems increasingly ordinary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Third, by demanding that plaintiffs disentangle race from politics, the court asks them to disprove the very structural reality that social network discrimination reveals.
From Slate ● May 22, 2026
Adam would try to draw me back, to wrap an arm around my waist, but I’d disentangle myself and head back to the shadows.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
After TopicVelo disentangles this kludge of processes and organizes them by topic, it applies topic weights back onto the cells, to account for what percentage of each cell's transcriptional profile is involved in which activity.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2024
The researchers found it in much the same way that one disentangles a knot, by pulling on individual threads to see where they lead.
From Salon ● Apr. 6, 2024
A new study published today disentangles this link in mice, showing that speeding up a mouse’s heart rate made otherwise calm animals act more anxious.
From Science Magazine ● Feb. 28, 2023
"Anyone who disentangles a whale would say that it's the best thing they've ever done," she says.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2022
But Abby disentangles from Nick and walks toward me.
From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli
He was a brilliant, compelling and tricky fellow, a novelist and political philosopher who disentangled himself from early communism and became culture minister to Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
This means there are two separate reasons race and politics cannot be disentangled, only one of which depends on history.
From Slate ● May 22, 2026
Veterinarians then assessed whether Meatloaf could be safely disentangled in the water or needed to be brought in for further care, Jaros said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
We will now learn whether Sir Keir's decision-making can really be disentangled from McSweeney's in this way.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
Ralph disentangled himself cautiously and stole away through the branches.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
China’s leaders have determined that disentangling the two economies—often called “decoupling” or “derisking”—is inevitable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
Data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show transfers of state prison inmates to ICE custody have trended down since California began disentangling local and federal law enforcement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2025
But disentangling this chicken-egg arrangement must start somewhere.
From Slate ● Oct. 20, 2024
Armed with the diaries, Saul, who lives in north London, began disentangling fact from fiction for a six-part podcast series, Devil in the Wilderness, for which he also composed the soundtrack.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2024
She hugged them tightly before disentangling herself from four arms.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
