unlock

[ uhn-lok ]

verb (used with object)

1. to undo the lock of (a door, chest, etc.), especially with a key.
2. to open or release by or as if by undoing a lock.
3. to open (anything firmly closed or joined):

   to unlock the jaws.

4. to lay open; disclose:

   to unlock the secrets of one's heart.

verb (used without object)

1. to become unlocked.

unlock

/ ʌnˈlɒk /

verb

1. tr to unfasten (a lock, door, etc)
2. tr to open, release, or let loose
3. tr to disclose or provide the key to

   unlock a puzzle

4. intr to become unlocked

Derived Forms

• unˈlockable, adjective

Other Words From

• un·locka·ble adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of unlock¹

1350–1400; Middle English unloken; un- ², lock ¹

Example Sentences

The helmet case unlocks when the user selects “start ride,” but the power to the moped won’t come on until the selfie has been submitted.

From TechCrunch

Most often, that means police and security forces unlocking phones of criminal suspects—a category that now includes pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong.

From MIT Technology Review

For advertisers, particularly those with e-commerce businesses, ads on Facebook not only create sales potential, they increasingly unlock it as new e-commerce features are added like the Shops in May.

From Digiday

Now based on your goals and audience type, choose your strategies wisely and start unlocking the true potential of LinkedIn for your business.

From Search Engine Watch

Like, fun stuff is for after homework, and doing homework is how you unlock doing the fun stuff.

From Everything After Z

Green-Wood has its own catacombs, which grounds keepers will unlock for tour groups.

From The Daily Beast

With my back turned, he entered the combination to unlock the door, which was fortified by more than a foot of reinforced steel.

From The Daily Beast

The move would unlock EU funding, more speaking time, and seats on committees.

From The Daily Beast

Best recalls a grieving father confiding that a visit let him unlock the emotional door trapping his family in grief.

From The Daily Beast

But there was never an easy way for the company to unlock that value, or for investors to understand precisely how much Yahoo!

From The Daily Beast

She instructed Bessie that prayer, good reading, and meditation are the keys to use to unlock God's great storehouse of blessings.

From Project Gutenberg

You must search for the secret springs that govern his actions and for the master key that will unlock his heart.

From Project Gutenberg

Then he made the boy unlock the cell door and Jim slipped out, gagged the kid, and walked out of the jail.

From Project Gutenberg

My name and my influence are a key to unlock every door; my hand can draw aside the curtain of every delight.

From Project Gutenberg

For she had that magic key which Thyrsis himself did not possess, she could unlock the treasure-chambers of Corydon's soul.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• decipher
• undo
• unravel