UNTANGLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does untangle mean? 

• UNTANGLE (verb)
  The verb UNTANGLE has 2 senses:

1. release from entanglement of difficulty

2. become or cause to become undone by separating the fibers or threads of

  Familiarity information: UNTANGLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNTANGLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they untangle    ... he / she / it untangles   
Past simple: untangled   
Past participle: untangled   
-ing form: untangling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Release from entanglement of difficulty

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

disencumber; disentangle; extricate; untangle

Context example:

I cannot extricate myself from this task

Hypernyms (to "untangle" is one way to...):

disengage; free (free or remove obstruction from)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

untangling (the act of releasing from a snarled or tangled condition)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become or cause to become undone by separating the fibers or threads of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

unknot; unpick; unravel; unscramble; untangle

Context example:

unravel the thread

Hypernyms (to "untangle" is one way to...):

undo (cancel, annul, or reverse an action or its effect)

"Untangle" entails doing...:

disunite; divide; part; separate (force, take, or pull apart)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, is helping to untangle the mystery.

(Pulse of a Dead Star Powers Intense Gamma Rays, NASA)

Conducted in mice, the new study may help untangle multiple psychiatric conditions, including alcohol use disorder, anxiety disorders, insomnia, and depression in humans.

(Researchers identify key brain circuits for reward-seeking and avoidance behavior, National Institutes of Health)

The discussion could be regarding your child (or a pregnancy), which, if true for you, could make talks a bit more sensitive to untangle.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

When DNA becomes tangled inside of cells, organisms use a protein called topoisomerase 2 (TOP2) to untangle it.

(DNA damage caused by cancer treatment reversed by ZATT protein, National Institutes of Health)

Data collected by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 1997 were put through new and advanced computer models to untangle a mystery — a brief, localized bend in themagnetic field — that had gone unexplained until now.

(Old Data Reveal New Evidence of Europa Plumes, NASA)

Electronic items like computers may have given you difficulties too, and you may have needed a repair or had to be on the phone with techs to help you untangle the problem.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)