How to use unravel in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Unravel means to cause (something) to no longer be ravelled or tangled; to disentangle, to untangle. Example: “Mother couldn’t unravel the ball of wool after the cat had played with it.”

Examples of unravel by meaning

verbTo cause (something) to no longer be ravelled or tangled; to disentangle, to untangle.

Mother couldn’t unravel the ball of wool after the cat had played with it.
Too impatient to unravel the tangled knot, he had cut it, and nothing could mend it now.1914 May, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, “Cutting the Tangled Knot”, in Their Mutual Child [The Coming of Bill], New York, N.Y.: Boni and...

verbTo separate the threads of (something knitted or woven, such as clothing or fabric).

Stop playing with the seam of the tablecloth! You’ll unravel it.

verbTo separate the connected or united parts of (something); to throw (something) into disorder; to confound, to confuse...

to unravel the broad consensus which was created
to unravel the compromise achieved in the treaty
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 June 24, Ian Cowie, “State pension Ponzi scheme unravels with retirement at 70”, in Tony Gallagher, editor, The Daily Telegraph...

verbTo clear (something) from complication or difficulty; to investigate and solve (a mystery, a problem, etc.); to...

to unravel the confusion to unravel a plot
It must be admitted that the workings of this unhappy woman's mind were deep and subtle, so that it was no very simple matter to unravel her plot.1922 February–March, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Problem of Thor Bridge”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi]...
Besides assisting in unravelling these two etymological conundrums, the present research also made an effort to approach a greater accuracy in presenting the original sources of borrowed words.2018 January 31, James Lambert, “Anglo-Indian Slang in Dictionaries on Historical Principles”, in World Englishes: Journal of English as an...

verbOf threads: to become separated from something knitted or woven, such as clothing or fabric; also, of something knitted...

Almost everyone has a favorite doll, an aging teddy, or an unraveling blankie—either safely put away in a drawer or still lovingly tucked into bed at night.2002, Barbara Collopy O'Halloran, Creature Comforts: People and Their Security Objects, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN...
Across the aisle, she was absentmindedly fiddling with a loose piece of yarn that had unraveled from her sweater, wrapping it around her finger the same way Derek was wrapped around her finger.2005, Dallas Woodburn, 3 A.m.: A Collection of Short Stories, →ISBN

verbOf a thing: to have its connected or united parts separated; to be thrown into disorder; to become confused or undone...

As if someone had cut the key string of a net, they all unravelled and disappeared—those tranquillities.1937, Ford Madox Ford, “[John] Galsworthy”, in Portraits from Life […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC...
But the traditional nicety began unraveling at least two or three election cycles ago.2012 August 27, Alex Mooney, “No more niceness: Obama, Romney try to rain on each other’s parade”, in CNN
But the story's juicy premise unraveled almost as quickly.2014 December 15, Tom Kludt, “Story of the $72 million teen trader unravels”, in CNN, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2024

More sentences with unravel

We knotted the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling.From the entry knot
She knotted her brow in concentration while attempting to unravel the tangled strands.From the entry knot
The unhemmed skirt would soon unravel, but it would last long enough.From the entry unhemmed
These narratives began to unravel first in the financial crisis, and once again during the pandemic.2025, Rachel O’Dwyer, “Afterword”, in Tokens: The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform, London; New York, N.Y.: Verso, →ISBN, page 283. From the entry cryptomillionaire
The erosion of accountability doesn't seem to matter now, but it will matter when things start unraveling.2023 October 18, Charles Hugh Smith, Our Mutually Reinforcing Crises: Not All Polycrises Are Equal. From the entry accountability
When power is sought primarily for private gain, the social fabric decays and unravels.2023 June 25, Charles Hugh Smith, The Corruption of POTUS, SCOTUS and SCROTUS. From the entry gain
How can he be sure his life won’t unravel in some faceless official’s hands?2020 January 17, Gaby Hinsliff, “EU nationals are fearful. And after Windrush, they should be”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry the computer says no
Like Trumpism, Hefnerian values have prospered in the blue-collar vacuum created by religion’s retreat, community’s unraveling.2016 August 14, Ross Douthat, “A Playboy for President”, in The New York Times. From the entry Hefnerian
Are you tied up in knots trying to unravel dozens of mobile phone plans?2005 July, Dan Tynan, “30 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do on the Internet”, in PC World, volume 23, number 7, page 79. From the entry tied in knots
Want to try to unravel this bid of Talmud puzzlery yourself?2004, Aaron Parry, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Talmud. From the entry puzzlery
An Omphalopsychic is one who unravels the mysteries of the universe by contemplating his navel.1960 October 21, Stu Adam, “Adam’s Rib”, in The Carleton, volume 16, number 5, page 5. From the entry omphalopsychic
The player’s instinct to catalogue the interactables of a delirious countess’s bedchamber unravels a familiar space drained pale through dissociation.2021 November 4, Nic Reuben, “Itch.io roundup”, in Ryan Lambie, editor, Wireframe, number 56, Cambridge, Cambs.: Raspberry Pi (Trading)…. From the entry interactable
Bit by bit, the train timetable unravelled.2020 June 3, Andrew Mourant, “A safer railway in a greener habitat”, in Rail, page 58. From the entry unleash
In fact, our analysis will be an attempt to unravel or unspin the seamless web of Panare thought.2014, Jean-Paul Dumont, Under the Rainbow: Nature and Supernature among the Panare Indians, page 4. From the entry unspin
She has unravelled bigger things to fix smaller mistakes before.2014, Matt Parker, Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension. From the entry misknit
In other words, the two men who were responsible for unravelling the greatest mystery of life both suffered from beetlemania.2014, Simon Barnes, Ten Million Aliens: A Journey Through the Entire Animal Kingdom, London: Short Books, →ISBN, page 449. From the entry beetlemania
Recent findings in cognitive neuroscience are also beginning to unravel how the body perceives magnitudes through sensory-motor systems.2013 July 9, Joselle DiNunzio Kehoe, “Cognition, brains and Riemann”, in plus.maths.org, retrieved 08 Sep 2013. From the entry cognitive
The central key to unraveling the perplexities of the Thomas gospel is contained basically in the first three logia.2011, Samuel Zinner, “The Gospel of Thomas: A Contextual Commentary”, in The Gospel of Thomas: In the Light of Early Jewish, Christian and…. From the entry logion
Pull a loose end and it begins to unravel.2011, George Mann, Paradox Lost (Doctor Who; New Series Adventures), [London]: BBC Books, →ISBN, page 159. From the entry noodley
The only remaining clue as to unravel the meaning of the images is offered by comparison with similar subjects.2008, Alexandra Anna Enrica van der Geer, Animals in Stone: Indian Mammals Sculptured Through Time, page 384. From the entry undecipher
Since nominal tonology is usually more transparent, it can be used as a guide to unravel the tonology of verbs.2004, Larry M. Hyman, Knut J. Olawsky, “Dagbani Verb Tonology”, in Chege Githiora, Heather Littlefield, Victor Manfredi, editors, Kinyĩra…. From the entry tonology
Perpetual unbirth unraveling distance, clandestine truths unveiled.2003, “Fugue”, in Trivium (music), Ember To Inferno. From the entry clandestine
Even the lines in their hands unraveled, these are the lines they stand in to ask for their hands back.1999 March, Julia Vinograd, “The Homeless”, in Street Spirit, volume 5, number 3, San Francisco, Calif.: American Friends Service…. From the entry before
“Severance” is a so-called puzzle box show, with complex story lines that keep viewers guessing to unravel a mystery at the center of the series.2025 September 11, John Koblin, “Emmys Top Drama Face-Off Tells You Everything You Need to Know About TV”, in The New York Times, New…. From the entry fill the bill
Taken together, these more recent studies indicate that biosociality, and what it produces in different contexts, unravels or is not very predictable.2018, Joel Christian Reed, Landscapes of Activism. From the entry biosociality
I’d like to invite those people to stick this fascinating origin story, expertly unravelled by Philippa Perry, in their pipe and smoke it.2015 March 10, Filipa Jodelka, “Sex, Lies And Love Bites: The Agony Aunt Story”, in The Guardian, retrieved 30 Jun 2026. From the entry slagheap

Meaning of unravel

verb To cause (something) to no longer be ravelled or tangled; to disentangle, to untangle.
verb To separate the threads of (something knitted or woven, such as clothing or fabric).
verb To separate the connected or united parts of (something); to throw (something) into disorder; to confound, to confuse, to disintegrate.

Full definition of unravel

Questions about unravel in a sentence

How do you use unravel in a sentence?: Unravel is used as a verb. For example: “Mother couldn’t unravel the ball of wool after the cat had played with it.”
What is a short sentence with unravel?: “Bit by bit, the train timetable unravelled.”
What does unravel mean?: Unravel means to cause (something) to no longer be ravelled or tangled; to disentangle, to untangle.

Adapted from Wiktionary: unravel (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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