Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use undoing in a sentence

21 example sentences · noun

Undoing means the act of loosening or unfastening. Example: “In the end, his jealousy was his undoing.”

Examples of undoing by meaning

nounRuin; defeat, (also) that which causes defeat or ruin.

  • In the end, his jealousy was his undoing.
  • The little fellow crouched trembling just an instant, but that instant was quite long enough to prove his undoing.1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as...
  • The extra 30 minutes could not separate the sides and led to a nerve-shredding finale that has so often been England's undoing, with a dismal record of just one win in seven shootouts at major tournaments before this.2018 July 3, Phil McNulty, “Colombia 1 - 1 England”, in BBC Sport

More sentences with undoing

  • The restoration of this medieval church involved undoing all the Victorian modifications.From the entry restoration
  • The ancient Romans deconsecrated city walls with a plow, undoing the rituals that first established their course.From the entry deconsecrate
  • He maketh merry with us all oft and anon, and 'twill be to his own undoing.2011, Arthur D Bardswell, The Poor Preachers. From the entry doomsome
  • Not only is Afrocentrism spawning grotesque maleducation, multiculturalism is exacerbating racial hostilities, undoing earlier racial progress.1999, Ultramontane Associates, Culture Wars, volume 19, page 49. From the entry maleducation
  • Success, however, is often their undoing, praise and flattery are inclined to make them have “swelled heads.”1987, The Book of Fate & Fortune: Numerology & Astrology, Orient Paperbacks, published 2008, →ISBN, page 177. From the entry swelled head
  • Thou art all mischief, Michal, Thou shouldst be married to a Philistine, for his undoing. michal: Ayeee!1925 spring, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, scene X, in David: A Play, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 1926, →OCLC, page 69. From the entry aye
  • Woman, undoing with sweet pudor her belt of rushrope, offers her allmoist yoni to man’s lingam.1922, James Joyce, Ulysses. From the entry pudor
  • “Youuuuuu do it, Mommy.” “Uppy, I want uppy.” Funny how a tone of voice can be our undoing.2011 February 11, Alyson Schafer, Ain't Misbehavin': Tactics for Tantrums, Meltdowns, Bedtime Blues and Other Perfectly Normal Kid…. From the entry uppy
  • The before image journal is used for undoing the effects of aborted transactions, and for recovery from system crashes.1990, Sayyed M. Deen (editor), Practical Database Techniques, page 58. From the entry before image journal
  • Bragging was the vice that was Eichmann's undoing.1964, Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, page 46. From the entry rodomontade
  • In a peculiarly inverted manner he is among the believers in progress—the goal being the undoing of the things done.1949 December, Helmut Kuhn, “[Review of Karl Löwith, Meaning in History: The Theological Implications of the Philosophy of History]”, in…. From the entry eschaton
  • They well knew that his unalterable rule in public life was “never commit thineself, lest it be your undoing.”1900 November 5, “Disgusted by Dockery. Thousand Left Kansas City Hall When He Began to Speak. […]”, in St. Louis Globe-Democrat, volume…. From the entry thineself
  • Undoing the last few straps, Eragon swung his right leg over Saphira's spine, so he was sitting sidesaddle, and prepared to jump off her back.2008, Christopher Paolini, “Assault on Helgrind”, in Brisingr, page 41. From the entry sidesaddle
  • And yet, psychoanalysis itself essays to enter into the domain of the future by undoing the Laplacean determinations the patient constructs for him or herself.1991 [1990], John Forrester, The Seductions of Psychoanalysis: Freud, Lacan and Derrida, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 95. From the entry Augustinian
  • Seated on the accubitum used at the Last Supper, the disciples are undoing their sandals in preparation for the Washing of the Feet.1974, Chrēstos G. Patrinelēs, Agapē Karakatsanē, Maria Theocharē, Stavronikita Monastery: History, Icons, Embroideries, page 197. From the entry accubitum
  • The visitors' undoing was caused by a diagonal ball from the right which was nodded into the six-yard area by Ian Evatt and finished off by Campbell.2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Liverpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, in BBC. From the entry diagonal
  • Yet in the young man's imagination "His Highness the vulture" has clearly regained imperial and ascensional status, radically undoing its original association with death and destruction.1993, Bernard Aresu, Counterhegemonic Discourse from the Maghreb, page 1993. From the entry ascensional
  • Yet without the Apatovian arc of its predecessor, it also feels a bit like a regression—especially given its typical sequel strategy of undoing the hard work of the previous film.2015, A.A. Dowd, The AV Club, Ted 2 gets filthier but less charming. From the entry Apatovian

Meaning of undoing

  1. noun The act of loosening or unfastening.
  2. noun Ruin; defeat, (also) that which causes defeat or ruin.
  3. noun Annulment; reversal.

Full definition of undoing

Questions about undoing in a sentence

How do you use undoing in a sentence?
Undoing is used as a noun. For example: “In the end, his jealousy was his undoing.”
What is a short sentence with undoing?
“Bragging was the vice that was Eichmann's undoing.”
What does undoing mean?
Undoing means the act of loosening or unfastening.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: undoing (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use undoing in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/undoing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.