unbend
Americanverb (used with object)
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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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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
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had unbendedperfect
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had unbentperfect
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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
As Charlie Price, the starchy young shoe factory heir who learns to unbend and open his mind under Lola’s tutelage, Andy Kelso is most charmingly awkward in the role created by Stark Sands.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2015
“You unbend your forehead at last,” said Mr. Rivers.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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
The disciple unbends, and consents to act a social part.
From The Confidence-Man by Melville, Herman
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 Dreiser, Theodore
Jennie was his companion now, and as he more and more unbended, and even joyously flung aside the habiliments of his dignity, her perception of him grew clearer.
From Jennie Gerhardt A Novel by Dreiser, Theodore
To full satiety of grief she mourns, Then silent to the joyous hall returns, To the proud suitors bears in pensive state The unbended bow, and arrows winged with fate.
From The Odyssey by Pope, Alexander
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 Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)
"There have been pleadings, and revilings—tears, and curses— bended knees, and unbended arms."
From A Fool There Was by Browne, Porter Emerson
I wouldn’t have expected to become so interested in screws being unscrewed, tabs unbent, machines reduced to component parts, cleaned and painted, with missing parts newly fabricated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2024
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
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
It reminded him that pure, unbending clarity of purpose existed, just not in himself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2024
Religion tends to be about absolute truths and unbending principles.
From Slate ● Nov. 9, 2023
They have avoided internal divisions by falling in line behind their ideologically unbending leader.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 13, 2023
She was nearly seventy, but her zeal was unbending.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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.
