unfurl
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unfurl
Explanation
When you unfurl something, you unroll it or spread it out. Your yoga teacher will unfurl her long purple mat at the beginning of class. To unfurl something is to roll it out, unwinding it the way you do with a coiled laptop charger cord. You might also unfurl a pair of socks curled around each other or the American flag you keep rolled up in a closet until the Fourth of July. Unfurl is a more common word than its opposite, furl, which means "roll or fold." The French origin is ferler, "to furl," from the Old French roots fer, "firm" and lier, "bind."
Vocabulary lists containing unfurl
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List 8
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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.
Alternating every two or three chapters, Ms. Seve and the actor Caleb Teaupa unfurl a blood- and brine-soaked epic set in and around the islands of long-ago Polynesia.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026
The result will unfurl over years, not news cycles.
From Slate • Jan. 29, 2026
And geopolitical events will unfurl as we watch helplessly from afar.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 15, 2025
But now scientists have used a combination of X-ray imaging and artificial intelligence to virtually unfurl it, revealing rows and columns of text.
From BBC • Feb. 5, 2025
It was easy to unfurl the linoleum in deserted alleys and parking lots.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
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.
