unravel
Pronunciation
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.046
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ʌnˈɹævəl/
unravel (unravels, present participle unravelling; past and past participle unravelled)
- (transitive) To separate the threads (of); disentangle.
- Stop playing with the seam of the tablecloth! You'll unravel it.
- Mother couldn't unravel the ball of wool after the cat had played with it.
- (intransitive) (of threads, etc.) To become separated; (of something woven, knitted, etc.) to come apart.
- 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound (Shelley), London: C. & J. Ollier, Act II, Scene 1, p. 63,
- […] the burning threads
- Of woven cloud unravel in pale air:
- 2015, Lesley Nneka Arimah, “Who Will Greet You at Home,” The New Yorker, 26 October, 2015,
- The yarn baby lasted a good month […] before Ogechi snagged its thigh on a nail and it unravelled as she continued walking […]
- 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound (Shelley), London: C. & J. Ollier, Act II, Scene 1, p. 63,
- (transitive, figurative) To clear from complication or difficulty; to unfold; to solve.
- 1683, John Dryden, “Life of Plutarch” in Plutarchs Lives, Volume 1, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 9,
- […] he disputed best, and unravell’d the difficulties of Philosophy with most success when he was at Supper, and well warm’d with Wine.
- 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, Chapter 5,
- I left Holmes seated in front of the smouldering fire, and long into the watches of the night I heard the low, melancholy wailings of his violin, and knew that he was still pondering over the strange problem which he had set himself to unravel.
- to unravel a plot
- to unravel a mystery
- to unravel the confusion
- 1683, John Dryden, “Life of Plutarch” in Plutarchs Lives, Volume 1, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 9,
- (transitive, figurative) To separate the connected or united parts of; to throw into disorder; to confuse.
- Art shall be conjured for it, and nature all unravelled.
- to unravel the global compromise achieved in the Constitutional Treaty
- to unravel the broad consensus which was created
- (intransitive, figurative) To become undone; to collapse.
- 2010, Ian Cowie, "State pension Ponzi scheme unravels with retirement at 70" ↗, The Telegraph, June 24th, 2010,
- The great Ponzi scheme that lies behind our State pension is unravelling – as they all do eventually – because money being taken from new investors is insufficient to honour promises issued to earlier generations.
- 2010, Ian Cowie, "State pension Ponzi scheme unravels with retirement at 70" ↗, The Telegraph, June 24th, 2010,
- (separate the threads of) disentangle, unsnarl
- (clear from complication) solve, unriddle
- French: dénouer, démêler, résoudre
- German: entwirren, auftrennen, aufdröseln, auseinanderdröseln
- Italian: districare, smagliare, sfilacciare, strigare
- Portuguese: desemaranhar
- Russian: распу́тывать
- Spanish: desenmarañar, desenredar, deshilar
- German: enträtseln, lösen, auflösen, offenlegen, enthüllen
- German: auftrennen, ausfasern, zerfasern
- German: einstürzen, zusammenstürzen, zusammenbrechen, zusammenfallen, zugrundegehen, vernichtet werden, zunichte gemacht werden
- Italian: disfare
- Portuguese: desfazer-se
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.046