Unravel
[ʌn'rævl]
Definition
(verb.) become or cause to become undone by separating the fibers or threads of; 'unravel the thread'.
Checker: Mortimer--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To disentangle; to disengage or separate the threads of; as, to unravel a stocking.
(v. t.) Hence, to clear from complication or difficulty; to unfold; to solve; as, to unravel a plot.
(v. t.) To separate the connected or united parts of; to throw into disorder; to confuse.
(v. i.) To become unraveled, in any sense.
Typed by Angelo
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Disentangle, extricate, ravel, untwist.[2]. Unfold, decipher, interpret, understand, resolve, solve, explain, read, clear up, make out.
Edited by Francine
Definition
v.t. to take out of a ravelled state: to unfold or explain: to separate.—v.i. to be disentangled.—adj Unrav′elable.—ns. Unrav′eller; Unrav′elment.
Checked by Herman
Examples
- That was all he knew--all he could hope to unravel of the story. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- If I give you any clue to what I am, or to what I have been, you will unravel it, I know. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Ask a woman to solve the mystery; for it is beyond the power of any man to unravel. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Be it this history's part, however, to leave them to unravel themselves. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Time alone will unravel all this perplexity, so to time will I truSt After all, I am young and strong, so can defend myself if necessary. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Mrs. Trenor paused to enjoy the spectacle of Miss Bart's efforts to unravel her tangled correspondence. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Allan looks from Jo to the woman, and from the woman to Jo, waiting for one of them to unravel the riddle. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- If half the stories I have heard are true, when it comes to unravelling a mystery, there isn't the equal in England of Sergeant Cuff! Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- There is little use in unravelling that now. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- No one would deny the right of forming a provisional assumption to the intelligence officer interpreting a cipher, or to the detective unravelling the mystery of a crime. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Bulstrode had not yet unravelled in his thought the confused promptings of the last four-and-twenty hours. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
Checker: Spenser