straighten
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
-
to make or become straight
-
(tr) to make neat or tidy
straighten your desk
Other Word Forms
- overstraighten verb
- prestraighten verb (used with object)
- restraighten verb
- straightener noun
- unstraightened adjective
- well-straightened adjective
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.
“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
Or could the head of the country's supreme audit institution, another Socialist named Pierre Moscovici, help straighten the country's finances?
From Barron's • Oct. 10, 2025
Should these innings be used to straighten out previously-successful relievers such as Treinen and Scott?
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2025
Certain dad deaths, though tough, leave ponderous messes to straighten.
From Salon • Apr. 21, 2025
“I cannot straighten my back, and can walk only as before, halfway bent over. What think you, Brother Luke, shall I ever straighten?”
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
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.
