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:
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
Now, it is helping the company straighten up its balance sheet—and getting its hands on a major business in return.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2025
Her forfeit was to straighten her mop of curly hair for the team's evening meal.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2025
Should these innings be used to straighten out previously-successful relievers such as Treinen and Scott?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025
I straighten my back and walk confidently right down the center of the main floor.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
Word spreads that Sparks starter Kelsey Plum will be there soon and everyone straightens up.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
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
He straightens it out and enhances its faded colour with careful strokes of a pencil.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
He visibly straightens and says to Drummond, “Devour feculence,” establishing that this is how he naturally speaks.
From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2025
Gene straightens his shirt and heads for the door.
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
She's ready, she says, well, shortly after she's blow dried and straightened her hair.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
Their mother, whom Jerry has been looking after, is dying, and there are medical bills that need to be straightened out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
A very kind woman working behind the desk straightened me out: I was being too literal.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 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 them out as I picked my way forward to where he stood.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
West of Hoover Street, the grid reorients itself, straightening into an American-style street grid.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
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
Mr Jabbar had operated on Jodee's daughter in 2022, when she was eight years old, fitting metal plates into her knees for leg lengthening and straightening.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2024
These findings highlight that fibril reorientation, straightening, stretching, and sliding are crucial mechanisms facilitating whole-disc compression.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 13, 2024
After they break through the shell, they spend three days down in the sand hole straightening themselves out.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
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.
