untie
Americanverb (used with object)
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to loose or unfasten (anything tied); let or set loose by undoing a knot.
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to undo the string or cords of.
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to undo, as a cord or a knot; unknot.
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to free from restraint.
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to resolve, as perplexities.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to unfasten or free (a knot or something that is tied) or (of a knot or something that is tied) to become unfastened
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(tr) to free from constraint or restriction
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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untiesimple
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untiessimple
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have untiedperfect
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has untiedperfect
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am untyingprogressive
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are untyingprogressive
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is untyingprogressive
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have been untyingperfect progressive
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has been untyingperfect progressive
Past
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untiedsimple
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had untiedperfect
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was untyingprogressive
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were untyingprogressive
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had been untyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of untie
before 1000; Middle English untyen, Old English untīegan. See un- 2, tie
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:
"These cuts and reductions untie perpetrators' hands everywhere, leaving them to do whatever they please. With crises mounting, we cannot afford a human rights system in crisis," he added.
From Barron's ● Feb. 5, 2026
As a gesture of true camaraderie, they grin and untie their own blue pañuelos and tie these kerchiefs around our necks.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
TSA has often been a crapshoot, risking pileups as travelers pulled laptops from carry-ons and novice vacationers struggled to untie their sneakers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2025
Kardashian was quickly able to untie herself and her bodyguard arrived shortly after.
From BBC ● May 12, 2025
The plastic bag of supplies was a mound against my back, but I couldn’t muster the energy to untie it.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
Under Mr. Cullman’s incisive direction the entire cast unties the emotional knots of the characters with impressive dexterity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
On her deathbed, she finally unties the ribbon.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2022
QUANTICO, Va. — Curator Owen L. Conner carefully unties the ribbon around the weathered slats and removes the storage paper.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 18, 2021
Binoche, dancing in front of an air vent, unties a long, thick braid and shakes her black hair loose.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 5, 2019
With two tugs on the strings he unties my hospital gown to expose my left leg, and then he draws lines into the back of my hip with something.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
But two years after the Supreme Court untied their hands, Grants Pass has not solved homelessness, and things have gone from bad to worse.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026
After a short bus ride, the group boarded a naval vessel in the Bay of Bengal, which Mr Noor said they only realised later once their hands had been untied and their faces uncovered.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2025
Pinch-hitter Harrison Bader then untied it with a poorly hit ball that got over the leaping Vesia before landing on the infield grass as Brooks Lee raced home from third.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
She and Melissa take it out, and then they realize they have to put it back in so he doesn't know that they're untied.
From Salon ● May 1, 2025
Oslak untied the bindings and pushed Torak into the clearing.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
He can also get “too friendly,” as Mr. Hartline puts it, untying shoelaces or pulling hair.
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2023
But those surveyed by Pew also acknowledged that untying their countries and themselves from China was "not a pragmatic goal" from an economic standpoint.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2023
"We're untying our own hands with the update on unfair and deceptive practices," he said.
From Reuters ● Sep. 7, 2022
How to sort the major and minor keys, “all at once on top of each other”? Grandpop, speaking as much for the playwriting as for himself, explains, “It’s about untying the knot.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2018
She lay on her stomach with her arms over the stern, untying the rope.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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.
