unbend
Americanverb (used with object)
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unbends,
present (3rd person singular)
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unbent,
past participle, past
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unbended,
past participle, past (Archaic)
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unbending
present participle
-
to straighten from a bent form or position.
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to release from the strain of formality, intense effort, etc.; relax.
to unbend one's mind.
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to release from tension, as a bow.
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Nautical.
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to loose or untie, as a sail or rope.
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to unfasten from spars or stays, as sails.
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verb (used without object)
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unbends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
unbent,
past participle, past
-
unbended,
past participle, past (Archaic)
-
unbending
present participle
-
to relax the strictness of formality or ceremony; act in an easy, genial manner.
Imagine him unbending!
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to become unbent; straighten.
verb
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to release or be released from the restraints of formality and ceremony
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informal to relax (the mind) or (of the mind) to become relaxed
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to become or be made straightened out from an originally bent shape or position
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(tr) nautical
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to remove (a sail) from a stay, mast, yard, etc
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to untie (a rope, etc) or cast (a cable) loose
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unbendsimple
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unbendssimple
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have unbendedperfect
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have unbentperfect
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has unbendedperfect
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has unbentperfect
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am unbendingprogressive
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are unbendingprogressive
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is unbendingprogressive
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have been unbendingperfect progressive
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has been unbendingperfect progressive
Past
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unbendedsimple
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unbentsimple
-
had unbendedperfect
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had unbentperfect
-
was unbendingprogressive
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were unbendingprogressive
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had been unbendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unbend
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at un- 2, bend 1
Explanation
When you make something straight, you unbend it. If your knees are stiff, it can be hard to unbend them after sitting cross-legged on the floor for a while. To straighten something bent or twisted is to unbend it. You can finally unbend your arm once you get that cast off! And when you relax or loosen up, you figuratively unbend: "It'll be nice to take it easy this weekend, and finally unbend after a long, busy week." The original meaning of this verb was "relax a bow by unstringing it," from the word bend and its earliest definition, "bend a bow."
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:
“So by oscillating the voltage back and forth, you can bend and unbend the strip, which will generate waves to drive the movement,” Cohen says.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 11, 2022
Even if your parents rage against that restriction, they can’t force you to unbend.
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2021
But every part of the process – including the coat hanger we unbend to use as a roasting spit — is a product of the Industrial Revolution.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2018
Taking small steps Mr. Hübbe has begun to unbend certain traditions.
From New York Times ● Jun. 10, 2011
At least a hundred years seemed to have passed before Shirley could bend and unbend her stubborn fingers well enough to hit each of the eight notes of the scale without disturbing its neighbor.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
Instead of shuttling back and forth, the vitamin A complex stays put in the retina, where one wavelength of light bends the light-sensing molecule, while another unbends it.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 9, 2023
But as you pass from childhood to middle age, from middle age to old age, the coin slowly unbends.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2018
This is not a short-term strategy until he unbends and promises to change—he’s made it clear he can’t be trusted, so don’t trust him.
From Slate ● Aug. 30, 2017
Besuited and stiffly formal of speech, he gradually unbends as he talks about his giving.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 21, 2010
Rallery, under such regulations, unbends the mind from serious studies and severer contemplations, without throwing it off from its proper bias.
From Essay upon Wit by Joseph Addison
I had no desire to pry into M. Picot's secrets, but I could not help knowing that he had unbended to me because he was interested in the fur trade.
From Heralds of Empire Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope, Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut
All at once, from being the plodding, hard-working engineer, with responsibility and thought in every feature, Telford unbended and relaxed, and became the merriest and drollest of the party.
From The Life of Thomas Telford; civil engineer with an introductory history of roads and travelling in Great Britain by Samuel Smiles
Louis, who always unbended to a merry jester, was showing his pictures to Killigrew, when they came to a painting of the Crucifixion, placed between portraits of the Pope and the "Roi Soleil" himself.
From Love Romances of the Aristocracy by Thornton Hall
The unbended sail Flaps idly in the passing wind; And dark below, each dull canal Is stagnant as its owner's mind!
From Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 6 June 1848 by Robert Taylor Conrad
Gerhardt had unbended so gradually that his interest was not even yet clearly discernible, but he had a distinct feeling of kindliness toward her.
From Jennie Gerhardt A Novel by Theodore Dreiser
Particles with Oh-My-God and Amaterasuenergy blast through intergalactic space relatively unbent.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 23, 2023
The tournament has the unbent feel of a week-and-a-half-long summer camp.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2023
She unbent slightly and explained that she had downloaded a tool that unblocked overseas Web sites.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 1, 2019
“Unbowed, unbent, unbroken — for Oberyn,” Ellaria solemnly says to the Sand Snakes before sending them on their way.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2015
Yet his back was still unbent, and the years had not yet robbed him of his skill at arms.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
In his one shot at the Champions League, Postecoglou was unbending in his attacking mindset even when drawn against Real Madrid.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2024
She’s watchful, she’s contained, inhabiting the character’s resilience and giving her a core of unbending steel.
From Seattle Times ● May 20, 2024
An ironic observer with an unbending will, he prefers the quiet freedom of his own thoughts to the aggressive clamor of those around him who mistakenly believe they can control how he thinks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2024
Religion tends to be about absolute truths and unbending principles.
From Slate ● Nov. 9, 2023
The bow unbending made his thin hands yield, Take over, no muscle in them.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
