uncork
Americanverb (used with object)
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uncorks,
present (3rd person singular)
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uncorked,
past participle, past
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uncorking
present participle
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to draw the cork from.
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Informal. to release or unveil; unleash.
to uncork one's pent-up emotions.
verb
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to draw the cork from (a bottle, etc)
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to release or unleash (emotions, etc)
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
uncorksimple
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uncorkssimple
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have uncorkedperfect
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has uncorkedperfect
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am uncorkingprogressive
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are uncorkingprogressive
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is uncorkingprogressive
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have been uncorkingperfect progressive
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has been uncorkingperfect progressive
Past
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uncorkedsimple
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had uncorkedperfect
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was uncorkingprogressive
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were uncorkingprogressive
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had been uncorkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of uncork
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:
Borel says when he gets them back, he hopes to uncork the two and enjoy a glass with his staff.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
Angel City may have gotten just a point, but if he could bottle the way the team played and uncork it at times throughout the eight-month season, he’d take that offer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2025
Boutique wineries and cideries are ready to uncork their latest vintages.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2023
Expanding Medicaid would uncork a spigot of about $1.35 billion a year in federal funds to hospitals and health care providers, according to a 2021 report by the office of the state economist.
From New York Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
But even then, as he swerved back up onto the porch, Mercedes usually managed to uncork a half-dozen infinitely annoying gravel bits that plinked around his feet before he attained her son’s door.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
The composer struts in during a rehearsal, uncorks an embarrassingly stagey speech about his life and views, and forbids Guthrie from putting his modern spin on the oratorio.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
There are heavy doses of Kevin Durant in how Wembanyama sets up and uncorks his pure jump shots, but he’s far taller and far longer than the Brooklyn Nets superstar.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 5, 2022
But that’s when White uncorks the remarkable 24.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 14, 2021
He’s much more consistent but still uncorks a head-scratcher throw every so often.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2019
Alan sets down a garbage bag full of Amber and Clover’s old baby clothes, uncorks a bottle of cold champagne.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Which is precisely what they uncorked to open the scoring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
With the pressure uncorked, she continued to play freer on her way to retaining the Melbourne title in 2024, then earned back-to-back victories at the 2024 and 2025 US Opens.
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2026
He reveled in the rambunctious disorder of its mining towns, and as a young reporter there he uncorked his ebullient sense of humor.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2025
They claim to share a sisterhood but whose dissimilar economic and social statuses rocket to the surface like freshly uncorked champagne bubbles.
From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2025
Gasping, he twitched his head painfully, and immediately uncorked another blast, a gigantic phlegm-spraying detonation that scattered money all over the table, all over Harlan Betchel’s shirt front, and all over the floor.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
By the end, he was holding his head high at Liu’s gold medal romp, and uncorking his back flip in the Games-ending gala.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
He’s also been wilding out on Truth Social, uncorking a series of posts that are unhinged, even for him.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2025
Corkage fees are to recoup the costs of serving the alcohol - the time spent uncorking the wine, pouring it and washing up afterwards, and sometimes bringing the wine to the right temperature as well.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2024
He came out with a vengeance on USC’s opening drive, casually uncorking an off-balance deep ball 50 yards down the field to a wide-open Tahj Washington, who scored on the next play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2022
Ugwu went into the living room and his hands worked mechanically, serving kola nuts and alligator pepper, uncorking bottles, shoveling ice, laying out steaming bowls of pepper soup.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
