straighten
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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straightens,
present (3rd person singular)
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straightened,
past participle, past
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straightening
present participle
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:
The researchers identified four characteristics that can help determine whether a tilted tropical cyclone is likely to straighten vertically.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
“You want to straighten out your press,” Trump said before bringing the conversation to an end.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
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
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
I thought she might try to pull away and straighten herself up, but she leaned into the older woman and cried.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
“We are going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out,” Trump said Monday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 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
He straightens in his chair and breaks his eye contact with me.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
“It’ll be back down once we get things straightened out.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
When she straightened up, her face was flush with a wide-eyed glow: “Oh my God!”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
A very kind woman working behind the desk straightened me out: I was being too literal.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 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
She seemed surprised to find Frank and Joe still standing there when she straightened up.
From "Hopping Mad (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #4)" by Franklin W. Dixon
"Expansion and straightening cause water to drain away into the North Sea and Baltic Sea even faster, rather than being retained in the surrounding area."
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
“It is a little more of the same, but it is going to be straightening out,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
West of Hoover Street, the grid reorients itself, straightening into an American-style street grid.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
They would keep the "crab" position until the last moment before the wheels touch the ground, straightening the aircraft for a smooth landing.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2025
“We have to do something about all this,” Natalie said, straightening up.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
