untangle
Americanverb (used with object)
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untangles,
present (3rd person singular)
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untangled,
past participle, past
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untangling
present participle
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to bring out of a tangled state; disentangle; unsnarl.
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to straighten out or clear up (anything confused or perplexing).
verb
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to free from a tangled condition
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to free from perplexity or confusion
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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untanglesimple
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untanglessimple
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have untangledperfect
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has untangledperfect
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am untanglingprogressive
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are untanglingprogressive
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is untanglingprogressive
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have been untanglingperfect progressive
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has been untanglingperfect progressive
Past
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untangledsimple
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had untangledperfect
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was untanglingprogressive
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were untanglingprogressive
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had been untanglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of untangle
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:
After managing to untangle him, Lee said it was a struggle to get him back to the surface as he was "much bigger than me".
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
But the American guest list is a useful reminder of how difficult it has been to untangle the world’s two largest economies.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Attribution science seeks to untangle how much human-caused climate change shaped a specific heat wave, storm or flood, and its findings now shape litigation and policy.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
But something in there was broken, which a senior engineer already behind on a deadline had to untangle, while Robin struggled to explain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
I untangle him, make him walk beside me.
From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell
Shapiro dexterously untangles the Gordian knot of their entwined passions, shared ambitions and business bottom lines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2025
"This work untangles some of the secrets and shows how N-terminal acetylation shape individual protein fate," Thomas Arnesen concludes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2023
"It is hard for the government to shore up economic growth unless it untangles the complex knot of weak confidence," said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank.
From Reuters ● Jul. 31, 2023
The novel tells the story of a Texas-born working man unwittingly becoming a detective as he untangles a mystery that takes him to L.A.’s Black, white and Latino neighborhoods.
From New York Times ● May 17, 2023
She floats down, like crystal light, and untangles me from the branch.
From "Ninth Ward" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Unlike in three dimensions, those paths cannot simply be untangled afterward.
From Science Daily ● May 9, 2026
How can Mr. Warsh get the Fed untangled?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
In a sense, then, the alliance is held together by complex supply chains and contractual agreements that could not possibly be untangled overnight.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2025
“The chicken or egg on how those things get untangled, and momentum shifted a different way, is a much bigger question,” Friedman continued.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2025
They got to the stables, mounted the horses, and were away before the two oafs had untangled themselves.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
Therefore, it is up to us to do the internal work of untangling these contradictions.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
Jenée Desmond-Harris offers advice on untangling this knotty disagreement.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026
Taking a stand will involve you untangling years of conditioning.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026
But a major challenge remained: untangling the criminal economy that had taken root in the mining region under Maduro’s rule.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Her mother, very soon to be a grandmother, is standing at the mirror of her dressing table, untangling waist-length hair, still more black than gray, with her fingers.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
