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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

A woman might as well turn into a fashion-block as allow her maid to clothe and unclothe her as your maid does you!

From The Carved Cupboard by Amy Le Feuvre

We uncover, indeed we unclothe an ugly, pot-bellied, pale-orange larva.

From The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos

This with him was to unclothe himself of his true strength.

From Robert Burns by John Campbell Shairp

Ministering angels are dimly seen in the background, and are summoned to unclothe and clothe Joshua.

From Expositions of Holy Scripture Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Minor Prophets. St Matthew Chapters I to VIII by Alexander Maclaren

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

He was unclothed, and had been wrapped in a flannel blanket, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

From New York Times ● Dec. 8, 2022

Raggio said that Ada Clinton Freer was found unclothed and that the Sheriff’s Office had been called out there previously to conduct welfare checks before his death.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2022

Below the sheet, Gogol realizes, his father is 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

This Don Quixote did, and leaving himself unclad, covered up Sancho, who fell fast asleep till the sun waked him.

From The Children's Hour, v 5. Stories From Seven Old Favorites by Eva March Tappan

The beautiful green plot is covered with sere and yellow leaves, and the night winds howl through the unclad branches of the noble linden; while the swelling waves of the Theiss lash its sombre banks.

From The Village Notary by J?zsef E?tv?s

So the eight Moors behind, who were clad, or rather unclad, in the same way, were compelled to set down their swaying burden, a richly gilded, half open litter.

From The Scarlet Banner by Felix Dahn

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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