unravel

Verb

unravel (third-person singular simple present unravels, present participle (US) unraveling or (UK) unravelling, simple past and past participle (US) unraveled or (UK) unravelled)

1. (transitive) To 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.
   • [S]he taking as the watchword of his true patience, vnraueld the bottome [i.e., ball of thread] of her frailtie at length, […]1603, [Thomas Dekker], 1603. The Wonderfull Yeare. […], London: […] by [J. Browne, Nicholas Ling, and John Smethwick for?] Thomas Creede, […], →OCLC, signature E3, recto

   Synonyms:

   unsnarl, disentangle, feeze, tease out, untangle

   Antonyms:

   ravel

2. (transitive) To 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.
   • [B]e not like her who unravelleth into strands the thread which she had strongly spun, by taking your oaths with mutual perfidy.1876, “[LXXIII.] Sura XVI.—The Bee. Mecca.—128 Verses.”, in J[ohn] M[edows] Rodwell, transl., El-Ḳor’ân; or, The Ḳorân: Translated from the Arabic, […], 2nd edition, London: Bernard Quaritch, […]...

   Synonyms:

   ravel

   Antonyms:

   ravel

3. (figuratively, transitive) To separate the connected or united parts of (something); to throw (something) into disorder; to confound, to confuse, to disintegrate.
   • to unravel the broad consensus which was created
   • to unravel the compromise achieved in the treaty
4. (also, figuratively, reflexive, transitive) To clear (something) from complication or difficulty; to investigate and solve (a mystery, a problem, etc.); to disentangle, to unfold, to work out.
   • to unravel the confusion to unravel a plot
   • You muſt unravell agen, and make your vvife / Beleeve you did but try her.1633 November 21 (date licensed; Gregorian calendar), Iames Shirly [i.e., James Shirley], The Gamester. […], London: […] Iohn Norton, for Andrew Crooke, and William Cooke, published 1637, →OCLC, Act...

   Synonyms:

   ravel, unpuzzle, unriddle, straighten out, absolve, decipher, get to the bottom of, iron out, meliorate, puzzle out

   Antonyms:

   ravel

5. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive) To reverse or undo (something); to annul, to negate.
   • For everie time thou admitſt mee after, to thy / Pillovv, I'le ſtrike of an hundred pound, / Till all the debts be unravel'd: […]1634 July 4 (date licensed; Gregorian calendar), Iames Shirly [i.e., James Shirley], The Example. […], London: […] Iohn Norton, for Andrew Crooke, and William Cooke, published 1637, →OCLC, Act III...
   • O thou cruel Son of an / Inhumane Father! all my deſigns are ruin'd / And unravell'd by this blovv. / No pleaſure novv is left in me but Revenge.1667 November 17 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Driden [i.e., John Dryden]; William Davenant, The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island. A Comedy. […], London: […] J. M. for Henry...
6. (intransitive) To become no longer ravelled or tangled.

   Synonyms:

   ravel

   Antonyms:

   ravel

7. (intransitive) Of threads: to become separated from something knitted or woven, such as clothing or fabric; also, of something knitted or woven: to separate into threads; to come apart.
   • [C]onſider him as a King, and what favours hath he beſtowed on his Subjects! and then, that his curteſies might not unravell or fret out, hath bound them with a ſtrong border and a rich fringe, a Triennial Parliament.2026 October 11 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), Thomas Fuller, “A Sermon Preached at the Collegiat Church of S. Peter in Westminster, on the 27. of March, being the Day of his Majesties...
   • [T]he burning threads / Of woven cloud unravel in pale air: […]1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 63

   Synonyms:

   come undone, ravel

   Antonyms:

   ravel

8. (figuratively, intransitive) Of a thing: to have its connected or united parts separated; to be thrown into disorder; to become confused or undone; to collapse.
   • [W]hen men doe not iſhue out of a danger by a doore of Gods opening unto them, but breake through the vvall, (as Jerome by perjury) by violent and unvvarrantable vvayes, their minds are daily haunted vvith ſcruples and perplexities, even ſometimes to dolefull diſtraction; beſides, ſuch eſcapes...1651, Thomas Fuller, “The Life and Death of Jerom of Prague”, in Abel Redevivus: Or, The Dead Yet Speaking. The Lives and Deaths of the Moderne Divines. […], London: […] Tho[mas] Brudenell for John...
   • [Y]ou may be ſure his [the Antichrist's] cunning and vvicked Emiſſaries vvill unfailingly aſſiſt, actuate and manage this Schiſm above all the reſt, it making the Reformation look ſo odiouſly, ridiculouſly and dangerouſly, as if to leave the Church of Rome vvere at laſt to unravel into a mere...1664, H[enry] More, “[The Apology of Dr. Henry More, […].] Chapter X.”, in Synopsis Prophetica; or, The Second Part of the Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity: […], London: […] James Flesher...