unravel
verb
Simple meaning
To come apart, or to solve something complicated.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnravuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənˈɹævəl
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
transitive
To cause (something) to no longer be ravelled or tangled; to disentangle, to untangle.
transitivefigurative
To separate the connected or united parts of (something); to throw (something) into disorder; to confound, to confuse, to disintegrate.
transitivefigurative
(also reflexive) To clear (something) from complication or difficulty; to investigate and solve (a mystery, a problem, etc.); to disentangle, to unfold, to work out.
intransitive
To become no longer ravelled or tangled.
transitive
To separate the threads of (something knitted or woven, such as clothing or fabric).
Become or cause to become undone by separating the fibers or threads of
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (figurative) To separate the connected or united parts of (something); to throw (something) into disorder; to confound, to confuse, to disintegrate.
Used this way, unravel is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- unpick , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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