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:
And then, he insisted one should disentangle the benefits from the risk, as if that’s even possible.
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 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
Dill’s efforts to disentangle himself with dignity were only moderately successful: he rose from the pool like a small fantastical water monster, covered with green slime and dripping sheet.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
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
My mother disentangled herself from the scrimmage and grabbed a handkerchief from her purse.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
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
On-the-ground workers fighting plastic pollution by disentangling seals estimated to Salon that roughly 70 percent of the debris they encounter is in some way linked to commercial fishing.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2024
It wrapped her up in a fragrant cloud that seemed to carry her into the kitchen, disentangling her cares and worries on the way.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
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.
