untie
verb
Simple meaning
To undo a knot, or free something that was tied.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhntySay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənˈtaɪ
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 free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind.
transitive
To loosen, as something interlaced or knotted; to disengage the parts of.
intransitive
To become untied or loosed.
To resolve; to unfold; to clear.
Understand the Word
How this word is built, and what each part adds.
To untie something is to loosen or remove a knot that was tied.
- un-
- reverses the action
- tie
- fasten with a knot
Prefix function , Reverses an action
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind.
Used this way, untie is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use untie
- “They untied the prisoner.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
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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.