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
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(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:
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
"I was talking with other students who believe this technology can be used in swarm robotics -- where small robots can entangle, do a task and then disentangle when they are done," said Pezeshki.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 15, 2026
“It took us decades of cooperation to get here and to disentangle all these things is really, really difficult,” said Gaurav Ganguly, head of international economics at Moody’s Analytics in London.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 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
He jerked the reins, his eyes twinkling, as more cries came up from the irate inmates as they tried to disentangle their bodies in the carriage and settle themselves on the seats once more.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
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
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
Start with the claim that the tumor-shrinking effects of RP1 could not be disentangled from that of another immunotherapy that patients were taking concurrently.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 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
While Figgis’ documentary doesn’t dwell on the problem, “Megadoc” does arguably end up suffering because that ethical knot is never fully disentangled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2025
It is a literary-critical commonplace to say that style and substance can’t be disentangled.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Any attempt to undo the acquisition would mean disentangling the two.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 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
Recently, I led an international team of biologists and archaeologists in disentangling the mysteries of how this transformation happens.
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2023
As darkness began its rapid descent, I took my chance when they thought I was disentangling nets deep down, and struck out underwater, away from the boat.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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.
