Word.ws English Dictionary

straightens

straightens is the third-person singular simple present indicative of straighten.

Meaning of straighten

Verb

straighten (third-person singular simple present straightens, present participle straightening, simple past and past participle straightened)

  1. (transitive) To cause to become straight.
    • [S]o / Do these upbear the little world below / Of Education,—Patience, Love, and Hope. / Methinks, I see them group'd in seemly show, / The straiten'd arms upraised, the palms aslope, / And robes that touching as adown they flow, / Distinctly blend, like snow emboss'd in snow.1830, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “[Sibylline Leaves.] Love, Hope, and Patience in Education.”, in The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge […], volume II, London: Macmillan and Co....
  2. (intransitive) To become straight.
  3. (transitive) To put in order; to sort; to tidy up.
    • to straighten one's affairs
  4. (transitive) To clarify a situation or concept to (an audience).
  5. (slang, transitive) To bribe or corrupt.
  6. (intransitive) To stand up, especially from a sitting position.

See all 7 meanings of straighten

Phrases with straightens

Questions about straightens

What is straightens the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Straightens is the third-person singular simple present indicative of straighten.

Words near straightens in the dictionary

  1. straightening
  2. straightening out
  3. straightening up
  4. straightening up and flying right
  5. straightenings
  6. straightens
  7. straightens out
  8. straightens up
  9. straightens up and flies right
  10. straighter
  11. straighter-laced

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: straightens (page history and authors); straighten (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “straightens.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/straightens. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.