Unravel Meaning
/(ˌ)ʌnˈɹævəl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo cause (something) to no longer be ravelled or tangled; to disentangle, to untangle.
verbTo separate the threads of (something knitted or woven, such as clothing or fabric).
Sentence Examples
Who shall ever unravel the mysteries of the sea?
The sleeves of the sweater began to unravel.
CEFR Practice Quiz
As the detective investigated, the mystery began to ____ and reveal the truth.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The detective began to ____ the mystery of the missing painting by following several small and hidden clues today.
Word Origin & History
PIE word *h₂énti From un- (suffix denoting the inverse of the specified action) + ravel. cognates * Dutch ontrafelen (“to unravel”)
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[S]he taking as the watchword of his true patience, vnraueld the bottome [i.e., ball of thread] of her frailtie at length, […]"
— 1603, [Thomas Dekker], 1603. The Wonderfull Yeare. […], London: […] by [J. Browne, Nicholas Ling, and John Smethwick for?] Thomas Creede, […], →OCLC, signature E3, recto:
"So by thine offspring may repose be found, / As thou unravelest (thus to him I pray) / The knot in which my intellect is bound."
— 1833, Dante [Alighieri], “Canto X”, in Ichabod Charles Wright, transl., The Inferno of Dante, Translated, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman; Nottingham, Nottinghamshire: W[ilia]m Dearden, →OCLC, page 89, lines 94–96:
"He was only aware that everything was over, that with a few words he had broken his life into small pieces. Too impatient to unravel the tangled knot, he had cut it, and nothing could mend it now."
— 1914 May, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, “Cutting the Tangled Knot”, in Their Mutual Child [The Coming of Bill], New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, published 5 August 1919, →OCLC, book 2, page 213:
"[B]e not like her who unravelleth into strands the thread which she had strongly spun, by taking your oaths with mutual perfidy."
— 1876, “[LXXIII.] Sura XVI.—The Bee. Mecca.—128 Verses.”, in J[ohn] M[edows] Rodwell, transl., El-Ḳor’ân; or, The Ḳorân: Translated from the Arabic, […], 2nd edition, London: Bernard Quaritch, […], →OCLC, page 213:
"VVithin fifteen dayes, aſſiſted vvith the Duke of Spoletum, Frederick recovered all vvhich vvas vvonne from him, and unravelled the fair vveb of John Brens victory, even to the very hemme thereof."
— 1639, Thomas Fuller, “Frederick Battered with the Popes Force, and Undermined with His Fraud, Leaveth Palestine, and Returneth into Italy”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of the printers to the Universitie of Cambridge [and sold by John Williams, London], →OCLC, book IV, page 166:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
As the detective investigated, the mystery began to ____ and reveal the truth.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The detective began to ____ the mystery of the missing painting by following several small and hidden clues today.