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:
“If there are, we’ll have to straighten it out, but I don’t think there’s too many significant differences,” Trump said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
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
Should these innings be used to straighten out previously-successful relievers such as Treinen and Scott?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025
When the pole starts to straighten, Duplantis is fully upside down and rotates his body to face away from the runway while still applying pressure to the pole.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2025
Tressa sits up straighten “I think someone ought to tell him it’s summer and that maybe he should change his clothes.”
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
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
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
I watch as she tidies my room, picks up clothes, straightens the things on my desk.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
A very kind woman working behind the desk straightened me out: I was being too literal.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2025
The eight runners were tightly grouped as they straightened up for home and then four went clear, with The Jukebox Man emerging victorious.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 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
When his Part D drug plan declined to cover one of his medications, the office staff called the insurance company and got it straightened out, saving him time and frustration.
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2025
Penelope straightened her spine and shook his hand firmly.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
“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
She’s known for straightening out the oil industry in Venezuela, making sure they could make money off it.
From Slate ● Jan. 5, 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
Together, they launched Altadena Girls to gather donations including beauty and hair products — fragrances, makeup, pimple patches, straightening tools and diffusers — and new clothing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2025
Ama steps in front of us, straightening her posture and smoothing her shirt.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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.
