unstick
Americanverb (used with object)
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unsticks,
present (3rd person singular)
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unstuck,
past participle, past
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unsticking
present participle
verb (used without object)
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unsticks,
present (3rd person singular)
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unstuck,
past participle, past
-
unsticking
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unsticksimple
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unstickssimple
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have unstuckperfect
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has unstuckperfect
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am unstickingprogressive
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are unstickingprogressive
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is unstickingprogressive
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have been unstickingperfect progressive
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has been unstickingperfect progressive
Past
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unstucksimple
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had unstuckperfect
-
was unstickingprogressive
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were unstickingprogressive
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had been unstickingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unstick
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:
The agreement could help unstick energy flows through Hormuz and ease pressure on the global economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
"We - our team and the United States administration - came to Beijing in order to unstick what has been stuck since almost last August," Kerry told reporters late on Wednesday.
From Reuters ● Jul. 19, 2023
Roy runs into Phoebe’s teacher — yay, Phoebe, genuinely and always — and she says he seemed “stuck” the last time they spoke, which evidently serves to immediately unstick him.
From New York Times ● May 17, 2023
Within days of my injury, I could unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth and create an odd sound every now and then, but I couldn’t communicate in any traditional sense.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2023
My tongue felt like it had been glued to the roof of my mouth, and as much as I tried, it wouldn’t unstick.
From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez
He unsticks the phone from his ear and stretches it out to me.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
Aston Villa's Tyrone Mings came unstuck in a Champions League game against Club Brugge in November 2024, conceding a penalty for handball after Emiliano Martinez kicked the ball to him.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
But many family-run businesses come unstuck because they focus on short-term moneymaking, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
Over the last couple of years, the long-term political parallels between the U.S. and the United Kingdom seem to have come unstuck.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2026
But Van Veen came unstuck in a tight contest with Van Gerwen, who averaged seven points more than the European champion in the final to take victory.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026
Billy first came unstuck while World War Two was in progress.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
By curling and uncurling their toes, geckos can alternate between sticking and unsticking from a surface, and thus easily move across it.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
But unsticking systems is not just a technological challenge.
From Slate ● Jan. 8, 2015
As we look toward unsticking calcified systems, we may find hope from a practice rarely celebrated by technological innovators: regulation.
From Slate ● Jan. 8, 2015
Thankfully, there are ways to manage this; unsticking that clog and getting everything flowing freely again.
From Forbes ● Sep. 6, 2014
Worry twines in my chest, and I keep unsticking my feet, in case I need to run out to find Dad and tell him I want to go home, now.
From "Rules" by Cynthia Lord
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.
