Explanation
Something is unchained when it's free from restraints that confine it. Better not leave your unchained bike outside of the library — someone might steal it! Most people think it's fine to leave your dog unchained in the back yard for a while but consider it cruel when a dog is chained outdoors all day. To be chained is to be secured by a chain, and when you add the prefix un-, "not," you get the opposite. An unchained tiger cub can happily run back to its mother, and an unchained gate can freely swing open.
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.
The dog calmed down as the woman unchained it and took it into the minibus.
From BBC ● May 28, 2024
It's everything Logan wanted for ATN, and all we should have expected of an unchained slime puppy who should never caught us off guard.
From Salon ● May 20, 2023
And of all the miscalculations in this morass of unchained melodies and extravagantly, often enjoyably undisciplined filmmaking, none is more mystifying than the decision to tell Elvis’ story from the perspective of Col.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2023
The shape of the lights unchained in the chop of the dark water.
From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2022
It was about six inches lower than the cart, so I unchained the tailgate and used it as a gangplank.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
