straighten out
verb
Simple meaning
To correct; to stop doing something wrong.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
straytuhnowtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈstɹeɪtəˈnaʊt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitiveidiomatic
To correct; to stop doing something wrong.
Make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear
transitiveidiomatic
To correct or rectify.
transitiveidiomatic
To eliminate confusion from or concerning.
transitive
To make straight.
transitiveinformal
To (supposedly) make (a gay person) heterosexual.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To correct; to stop doing something wrong.
Used this way, straighten out is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.