unmake
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause to be as if never made; reduce to the original elements or condition; undo; destroy.
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to depose from office or authority; demote in rank.
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to change the essential point of (a book, play, etc.).
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to alter the opinion of (one's mind).
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to change or alter the character of.
verb
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to undo or destroy
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to depose from office, rank, or authority
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to alter the nature of
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unmakesimple
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unmakessimple
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have unmadeperfect
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has unmadeperfect
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am unmakingprogressive
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are unmakingprogressive
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is unmakingprogressive
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have been unmakingperfect progressive
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has been unmakingperfect progressive
Past
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unmadesimple
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had unmadeperfect
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was unmakingprogressive
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were unmakingprogressive
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had been unmakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unmake
First recorded in 1350–1400, unmake is from the Middle English word unmaken. See un- 2, make 1
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:
How do we "unmake the self-made myth," Quart asks.
From Salon ● Apr. 12, 2023
Which is exactly the way that OpenAI, the company that stands to benefit the most from everyone believing its product has the power to remake — or unmake — the world, wants it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2023
There’s no choice in that; there’s no room to really unmake yourself from it.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 8, 2022
Just by wrapping the hanging ropes inside a loose rope, we could make a glorious tree — and just as quickly unmake it or change it into many different kinds of trees.”
From Washington Post ● May 25, 2022
He died after a lengthy battle with human consciousness, a victim—as you will be—of the universe’s need to make and unmake all that is possible.
From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
When Morpheus unmakes the Corinthian, he denounces the aggrieved entitlement of the Collectors telling them, "Until now, you have sustained fantasies in which you are the victims, comforting daydreams in which you are always right."
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2022
Again, she poses an idea through possibility: “Maybe the value of art, to artists and everyone else, is that it upends other value systems. Art unmakes the world made by art.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2020
That which makes us also unmakes us, and the process of living seems inextricably bound to the process of dying.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 27, 2017
“Language makes and unmakes reality,” says Sally Elliott, the aspiring writer character who serves as Coover's stand-in.
From Slate ● Nov. 30, 2014
The world unmakes stuff faster than people can make it.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
The London scene was dominated by Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and the Young British Artists - brazenly exhibiting sharks in formaldehyde and making art out of unmade beds.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
Second, they believed that financial fortunes were made and unmade, above all else, by circumstance, meaning that defaults did not tar someone’s financial reputation for life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
Mexican media outlets published images of the cabin's luxurious interior, showing furniture with open drawers and unmade beds.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
“If I said purple, you’d say red / With your brown hair tumbling like an unmade bed / And we’d both die laughing at something I said / Talking to you.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
He emptied cupboards and drawers, he unmade his bed, he grabbed homework papers and ran away, laughing.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
“Because it is the unmaking of an agreement, rescission is an extreme remedy and should only be granted by a court of equity when it is ‘clearly warranted,’” the court wrote in the unsigned opinion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
What the voyage now represents is the unmaking of ideas from some of the great thinkers and creators of the age.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2025
Bess entered the room and immediately started unmaking the bed.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 9, 2022
Making and unmaking an anus sounds like such an ordeal, you might imagine comb jellies poop rarely.
From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2021
Anyone with access to a compass and a clove of garlic could perform their own test, which is why the unmaking of the old ‘fact’ was so important.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
