unbar
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to take away a bar or bars from
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to unfasten bars, locks, etc, from (a door); open
Etymology
Origin of unbar
First recorded in 1300–50, unbar is from the Middle English word unbarren. See un- 2, bar 1
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.
Claudius has made himself a monarch again, standing at the head of a shrieking horde of desperate peasantry who believe he can unbar the door to that heavenly place.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025
Uncle Pullet had seen the party from the window, and made haste to unbar and unchain the front door.
From Tom and Maggie Tulliver by Eliot, George
On the weed-grown path beside him lay a revolver, as if he had dropped it out of his hand when he started to unbar the gates.
From The Red Symbol by Ironside, John
I cried, “why did you unbar the door?”
From The Little Minister by Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew)
Teach me the path to that uncharted land; Discovery's keel hath never notched its strand, No passport may unbar its sealed frontier,— Too far for utmost sight, for touch too near.
From The Two Twilights by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)
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.
