tie up loose ends
tie up loose ends verb: to deal with the minor consequences of a previous action; to tidy up, finish, or complete.
Verb
tie up loose ends (third-person singular simple present ties up loose ends, present participle tying up loose ends, simple past and past participle tied up loose ends)
- To deal with the minor consequences of a previous action; to tidy up, finish, or complete.
- Removing her name from the mailing list was her way of tying up loose ends.
- it is rich in detail and ideas, and it comes from a unique, uncompromising talent who likes to leave some loose ends for the viewer to tie up.2020 September 1, Nicholas Barber, “Five stars for I'm Thinking of Ending Things”, in BBC
Forms of tie up loose ends
| third-person singular present | ties up loose ends |
|---|---|
| present participle | tying up loose ends |
| past participle | tied up loose ends |
| past | tied up loose ends |
Questions about tie up loose ends
- What does tie up loose ends mean?
- Tie up loose ends means to deal with the minor consequences of a previous action; to tidy up, finish, or complete.
- What part of speech is tie up loose ends?
- Tie up loose ends is a verb.
- What is the past tense of tie up loose ends?
- The past tense of tie up loose ends is tied up loose ends.
Words near tie up loose ends in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tie up loose ends (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-tie up loose ends.ogg.
Cite this entry: “tie up loose ends.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tie_up_loose_ends. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.