untwine
Americanverb (used with or without object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of untwine
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:
“To untwine it to one aspect of it diminishes the other, and I don’t want to do that. It’s the totality of it. It’s the gestalt of it.”
From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2022
It would be difficult to untwine the system by which we measured much of the past 80 years — but that isn’t really New Zealand’s goal.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 14, 2019
They are two events in his life he will never be able to untwine.
From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2013
She later said the police had to untwine him before he could be taken to the ambulance.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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And they had parted in the hey-day of youth, young and ardent, with arms passionately loth to untwine.
From Fort Amity by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
She untwined herself from the chair and trundled into the kitchen to retrieve a plaque she wanted to show.
From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2016
Cora untwined herself from Ridgeway and crawled toward the hand-car, left leg in agony.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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“We’ve been clutching each other like a couple of lost children,” Theodora said and untwined her arms from around Eleanor’s neck.
From "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson
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“But, Lenina . . .” he began protesting; and as she immediately untwined her arms, as she stepped away from him, he thought, for a moment, that she had taken his unspoken hint.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
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Every cord of my heart that had been untwined or slackened of late wound itself fast round that blessed little one.”
From Nearly Lost but Dearly Won by Wilson, Theodore P.
"God will bring me safely back to you, dear mother," urged Agnes, gently untwining those loving arms; "Good-by."
From Angel Agnes The Heroine of the Yellow Fever Plague in Shreveport by Alexander, Charles Wesley
Made of bamboo, cork, and thin paper, it had two propellers that revolved in opposite directions by the untwining of rubber bands that controlled them.
From Modern Americans A Biographical School Reader for the Upper Grades by Sanford, Chester Milton
Philip nodded--a crimson spot in each cheek, his frail hands twining and untwining as he tried to compose himself.
From Lady Merton, Colonist by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
Mademoiselle," persisted Gwendolyn, twining and untwining, "if I do my French fast will you tell me something?
From The Poor Little Rich Girl by Gates, Eleanor
Yonder there flow, untwining and twining their loops anew!
From Poems of Emile Verhaeren by Verhaeren, Emile
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.