uncouple
Americanverb (used with object)
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uncouples,
present (3rd person singular)
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uncoupled,
past participle, past
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uncoupling
present participle
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to release the coupling or link between; disconnect; let go.
to uncouple railroad cars.
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to end (a romantic relationship or marriage).
Their marriage was uncoupled by financial problems.
verb (used without object)
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uncouples,
present (3rd person singular)
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uncoupled,
past participle, past
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uncoupling
present participle
-
to become unfastened; let go.
The glider uncoupled from the tow plane.
-
to end a romantic relationship or marriage.
My sister and her boyfriend have uncoupled after ten years together.
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(of a romantic relationship or marriage) to end.
verb
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to disconnect or unfasten or become disconnected or unfastened
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(tr) to set loose; release
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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uncouplesimple
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uncouplessimple
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have uncoupledperfect
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has uncoupledperfect
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am uncouplingprogressive
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are uncouplingprogressive
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is uncouplingprogressive
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have been uncouplingperfect progressive
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has been uncouplingperfect progressive
Past
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uncoupledsimple
-
had uncoupledperfect
-
was uncouplingprogressive
-
were uncouplingprogressive
-
had been uncouplingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of uncouple
Vocabulary lists containing uncouple
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:
If you uncouple your net worth from your self-worth, navigating finances becomes less sensitive.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 7, 2026
“You know I was married once, but that didn’t work out. It hurt to uncouple our lives from our dreams.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
"But in economics, we know that if payments are directly tied to penalties, that's restrictive, and it can't be optimal. So, we said, let's uncouple them and see what solution would happen."
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024
Who can forget when Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow and her then-husband, musician Chris Martin, announced in 2014 that they would consciously uncouple?
From Washington Post ● Jan. 21, 2022
Instead of getting in there and taking things over, couldn’t we learn to disconnect altogether, uncouple, detach, and float free?
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
The point is that Stone uncouples it from recognisable timbre, leaving it as pure, contextless sound – a staggering announcement of the universality of beauty.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 10, 2018
Red uncouples the car in which the hoboes are riding and temporarily foils the hawkshaws.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the nick of time, the cowboy uncouples the baggage car in which his girl is held prisoner.
From Time Magazine Archive
Technology at this level uncouples the past from the present.
From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Mihai Nadin
He bends down, and with a strong, quick jerk uncouples the rear car.
From The Transgressors Story of a Great Sin by Francis A. Adams
Levanon has a theory about why the payoffs for advanced degrees have uncoupled: “More degrees chasing fewer of the positions those degrees were meant to unlock.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
Conversely, when the oceans are uncoupled, the sea surface temperature does not respond to atmospheric fluctuations.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 28, 2024
Formerly reliable sources of information like seasonal changes in daylight can lose its utility as they become uncoupled.
From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2023
If Smith’s prediction comes true, Cal and the other defectors will be back once football is uncoupled from other college sports.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2023
Then he uncoupled them and fastened the hose to the coupling pipe and fitted the other end of the hose to the gasbottle and carried it out to the saloon.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
WSJ: We’ve all got questions but the one that I’m most interested in is this theme that was bubbling at Davos, which was the uncoupling of Europe from the U.S. politically, economically, technologically.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
This effect was even stronger in mice whose mitochondria lacked uncoupling protein 1, suggesting that peroxisomes can step in when mitochondria lose their ability to produce heat.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2025
A Wall Street–to–Main Street disconnect is not new, but people’s uncoupling of stocks and “the economy” as a living organism has accelerated post-pandemic.
From Slate ● Dec. 6, 2024
But rather than dying, the fibers retracted, uncoupling from the heart muscle.
From Science Magazine ● May 22, 2024
But uncoupling is not the only way to extinguish the little fires in some or all of the body’s billions of cells.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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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.
