straighten
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
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to make or become straight
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(tr) to make neat or tidy
straighten your desk
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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straightenernoun
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overstraightenverb
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restraightenverb
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prestraightenverb (used with object)
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unstraightenedadjective
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well-straightenedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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straightensimple
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straightenssimple
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have straightenedperfect
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has straightenedperfect
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am straighteningprogressive
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are straighteningprogressive
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is straighteningprogressive
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have been straighteningperfect progressive
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has been straighteningperfect progressive
Past
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straightenedsimple
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had straightenedperfect
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was straighteningprogressive
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were straighteningprogressive
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had been straighteningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of straighten
Explanation
When you straighten something, you either unbend it or tidy it up. So you might straighten your legs, get off the couch, and straighten the room. To make something straight is to straighten it. When you uncross your legs and stretch them out in front of you, you straighten them. And if you adjust a picture on the wall so it's perfectly level, you straighten it. In the the 14th century, the equivalent verb was straight — so in those days, your mom would have said, "Straight your bedroom before you go out with your friends!"
Vocabulary lists containing straighten
List 10
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"The Giving Tree"
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Spelling Practice 3, Unit 4
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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:
I rarely straighten my mop of thick, curly hair, and when I do, it’s not always a great experience.
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2026
“You have New Orleans, which has a crime problem. We’ll straighten that out in two weeks, easier than D.C.,”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
It took a meeting with the inflation-slaying giant of a former Fed chair, Paul Volcker, to straighten him out.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2025
Her forfeit was to straighten her mop of curly hair for the team's evening meal.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2025
“Yes, I’m well aware. It was all a misunderstanding. We’ll straighten things out tomorrow.”
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
The Mercator map is arguably the best for this purpose, because it straightens out spiraling rhumb lines, and that’s why it rose to dominance.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2026
Whatever you wear, I hope you share M&M’s and popcorn with someone who straightens your crown.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2024
These optical imperfections bend the images of straight lines into gnarled curves that the calibration effectively straightens out.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2024
Min-so's cousin, Park Du-yong, struggles not to cry as he straightens out her small, empty apartment, now home to just her goldfish.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2023
She straightens her knee slowly, her other leg pointing to the side, toes extended like a ballerina’s.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
A very kind woman working behind the desk straightened me out: I was being too literal.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2025
Bigklit, formerly Indigo Vanity: That’s what a lot of people knew me for: the curly, big half-pink, half-black hair with my straightened bangs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025
In pictures, she can be seen smiling sweetly at the camera in a smart black suit with straightened brown hair during a visit to the Financial Times in 2010.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
“The tears that I have shed over this, the frustration, the hours on the phone, trying to get it straightened out,” said Reisen, who lives in the Philadelphia area.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2025
I straightened up and pulled out my tablet.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
“We’re supposed to be bright and alert pupils with intelligent and witty repartee,” Cumberbatch says, straightening up with feigned attention.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2025
He may be the latest out of many to play the role, but the same devotion to straightening odd knots keeps him ever-relevant.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2025
"Ukrainian soldiers are strong because it's our land. It's my country. My daughter, my son, are here. My heart is here," he said, his back straightening.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2024
These findings highlight that fibril reorientation, straightening, stretching, and sliding are crucial mechanisms facilitating whole-disc compression.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 13, 2024
“I was just straightening Claire’s bed. She left it unmade. There’s nothing else to do around here.”
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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.
