Meaning

8 senses
  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.

    disentangle

  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.

    aufdröseln, auftrennen, auseinanderdröseln

    распу́тыватьraspútyvatʹ, распу́татьraspútatʹ

  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

    auftrennen, ausfasern, zerfasern

  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

    auflösen, enthüllen, enträtseln

  5. (intransitive)To become no longer ravelled or tangled.

    become undone

  6. (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.

  7. (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.

    einstürzen, kollabieren, vernichtet werden

  8. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To reverse or undo (something); to annul, to negate.

Examples

30 sentences
  1. Today, we are going to unravel the mystery of the English subjunctive.

    ruСегодня мы раскроем загадку сослагательного наклонения в английском языке. — FeuDRenais

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · FeuDRenais · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  2. Tom might be unraveling.

  3. Tom and Mary's marriage started to unravel after a few years.

  4. I yearn to unravel your secrets.

  5. As the story advances, the mystery unravels.

Translations

7 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
(transitive) to separate the threads of (something knitted or woven):
Deutsch
By meaning 4
(transitive) to separate the threads of (something knitted or woven):
(transitive) to separate the connected or united parts of (something); to throw (something) into disorder — see also confound, confuse:
(transitive) to clear (something) from complication or difficulty; to investigate and solve (a mystery, a problem, etc.) — see also unfold, work out:
(intransitive) of a thing: to have its connected or united parts separated; to be thrown into disorder; to become confused or undone — see also collapse:

Forms

unravels, unraveling, unraveled, unraveled
Base formunravel · to unravel
3rd person singularunravels
Present participleunraveling
Past simpleunraveled / unravelled
Past participleunraveled / unravelled

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyunravel
he, she, itunravels

Past simpleLesson

all personsunraveled

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave unraveled
he, she, ithas unraveled

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill unravel

Synonyms

32 synonyms
Close in meaning

Antonyms

1 antonyms

Word family

6 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
unravel — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto