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Synonyms

unclothe

American  
[uhn-klohth] / ʌnˈkloʊð /

verb (used with object)

  • unclothes,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • unclothed,
    past participle,  past
  • unclad,
    past participle
  • unclothing
    present participle
  1. to strip of clothes.

  2. to remove a covering from; lay bare; uncover.


unclothe British  
/ ʌnˈkləʊð /

verb

  1. to take off garments from; strip

  2. to uncover or lay bare

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of unclothe

First recorded in 1250–1300, unclothe is from the Middle English word unclothen. See un- 2, clothe

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:

With some actors, words clothe feelings; with Jones, feelings unclothe words so that joy, rage, wonder and sadness radiate nakedly through the theater.

From Time Magazine Archive

She regarded herself with detachment as a remarkable phenomenon, and therefore she could impersonally describe her career without any of the ordinary restraints—just as a shopman might clothe or unclothe a model in his window.

From Mr. Prohack by Arnold Bennett

Bethink yourself how love Fared in us twain, what either did; Shall I unclothe my soul thereof?

From Poems & Ballads (First Series) by Algernon Charles Swinburne

Other men, again, possibly unclothe themselves of some practices, but they put on new clothing, they reform some passages for fear of censure, or shame, or such like.

From The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning

How came so many men of such different races and nations of mankind to hasten to unclothe themselves of all their previous beliefs in order to adopt these fantastical fables?

From The Eclipse of Faith Or, A Visit To A Religious Sceptic by Henry Rogers

In the course of the ceremony the priest unclothes the babe and asks the godfather, “What seeks the child?”

From Armenian Legends and Festivals by Louis A. Boettiger

The responsibility of light beckons, unclothes the familiar objects and not so familiar ones.

From Unmanned by Stephen Oliver

It is clothed and unclothed; decorated and distorted; idealized, stylized, politicized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026

Vanos said the commonly-used wet-bulb temperature for human survivability assumes the person is indoors or shaded, unclothed, completely sedentary, fully heat acclimatized and of an "average size."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 30, 2023

At the dawn of the Renaissance in Europe — including France, Germany and the Netherlands as well as Italy — unclothed human bodies are emerging from a long, medieval artistic slumber.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2018

Yet I can attest that when I’m drawing the unclothed human figure, the only thing I’m judging is how good my drawing is.

From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2018

She lets the water run in the shower, turns up the thermostat to compensate for the terrible moment when she will have to step onto the mat on the bathroom floor, unclothed.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

As for Britain, clad or unclad, entry into the Common Market was out of the question, despite his "exceptional esteem, attachment and respect" for the British people.

From Time Magazine Archive

I flung the warm shawl over her, and drew the edges tight round her neck, for I dreaded lest she should get some deadly chill from the night air, unclad as she was.

From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

A rude north wind raved among the leafless oaks that defied its power with their rugged, unclad arms.

From Godey's Lady's Book, Vol. 42, January, 1851 by Various

Queen Toplissy was a handsome lady, rather heavy in physique, of an orange-yellow complexion, with bright copper-bronze hair, and her unclad arms wore a profusion of bracelets and armlets of various metals.

From The Goddess of Atvatabar Being the history of the discovery of the interior world and conquest of Atvatabar by William Richard Bradshaw

Desmond stooped and looked at the unclad right hand.

From In Clive's Command A Story of the Fight for India by Herbert Strang

Why am I to begin with taking up a position not my own, and unclothing my mind of that large outfit of existing thoughts, principles, likings, desires, and hopes, which make me what I am?

From An Essay In Aid Of A Grammar Of Assent by John Henry Newman

Either the Spirit unclothing Unto new living for ever,— Or the dread penalty—never!

From My Life as an Author by Martin Farquhar Tupper

He looked at such unclothing in his own case as possible, but was confident that it would not happen so.

From The State of the Blessed Dead by Henry Alford

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