uncoil
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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uncoils,
present (3rd person singular)
-
uncoiled,
past participle, past
-
uncoiling
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
uncoilsimple
-
uncoilssimple
-
have uncoiledperfect
-
has uncoiledperfect
-
am uncoilingprogressive
-
are uncoilingprogressive
-
is uncoilingprogressive
-
have been uncoilingperfect progressive
-
has been uncoilingperfect progressive
Past
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uncoiledsimple
-
had uncoiledperfect
-
was uncoilingprogressive
-
were uncoilingprogressive
-
had been uncoilingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of uncoil
Explanation
To uncoil is to straighten something out that's been curled or twisted, the way you uncoil a long, thin piece of red licorice, chewing it as you go. When something is coiled, it's wound or curled into a spiral shape. You can even call it a coil, like a coil of rope on the deck of a sailboat. Make it straight by untwisting it, and you uncoil it: "Leave my snake alone! Don't try to uncoil her!" The prefix un- means "reverse or opposite of," and coil, "gather into rings," comes from a root meaning "to gather or collect."
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:
There is fundamental pent-up demand for home improvement that should uncoil as housing turnover improves.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
Slamming her feet down on the springboard, Biles compresses the springs that then uncoil and transfer energy back into her body as she reaches up and backward for the vault table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2024
Had I said, "I love you"? I will never be able to uncoil that memory from my brain.
From Salon ● May 2, 2023
As they are beaten, the proteins in egg whites uncoil, trapping air in tiny bubbles.
From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2022
“No. That’s not why. You chose the name Fern because you loved the way ferns uncoil from fronds, like a dancer.”
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
When the material is pulled, hidden length inside the polymer uncoils, allowing it to elongate up to 40 times more than standard polymers without weakening.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024
But Mills can tell when Junie is over it herself: Her tongue uncoils further out the crook of her mouth, dashes turn into trots, trots turn into steps, steps turn to sit.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 24, 2022
A final curl of smoke uncoils in the wind.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 10, 2022
But the action is well mounted and the tension tightly wound; it uncoils, when it does, with a satisfying snap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2018
He uncoils the grounding wires, raises the aerials, and switches them on.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
On the drive out that afternoon, between fields of corn and sunflowers, miles of newly uncoiled barbed wire glint in the sunlight.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2025
She spoke with the force of a spring uncoiled and the determination of a balled-up fist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2024
Officers from Customs and Border Protection uncoiled razor wire across the railway gate.
From Reuters ● Aug. 8, 2023
Once uncoiled by the threat of blackmail and later, the admonishments of her husband, Torvald, her intelligence bursts forth with intoxicating and indomitable force.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2022
The fuming concoction sent swirls of steam up to the cave ceiling, where bats flapped their wings, clinging upside down from their claws, and pit vipers uncoiled themselves from thick iron hooks.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
He exploded out of his stance, a spring uncoiling, and his cleats ripped through the grass.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2023
He published photographs of security officers uncoiling barbed wire next to a wall that appeared more than two metres high.
From Reuters ● Nov. 11, 2022
It’s followed by an uncoiling down the mound with the left hand holding the baseball last in the movement.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 17, 2022
“Alone” is full of lyrical descriptions of auroras uncoiling like serpents across the sky, folding stars into their wavering fabric of light.
From New York Times ● May 5, 2020
From the banks of Lake Carnegie, the boys, their oars, and the Husky Clipper looked like a single thing, gracefully and powerfully coiling and uncoiling itself, propelling itself forward over the surface of the water.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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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.
