1
as in to fray
to separate the various strands of
it took us forever to unravel the jumbled mass of Christmas tree lights
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to solve
to find an answer for through reasoning
unraveled the mystery
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unravel
Read All About It OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took the witness stand in the company’s trial with Elon Musk, sharing his account of how their once-close relationship unraveled.
—
Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 13 May 2026
That legacy began to unravel in 2019 when son Paul was in a fatal boat crash.
—Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 May 2026
Things unraveled in the final three innings, with the Giants rolling to a 9-3 win that gave the Dodgers their eighth loss in their last 12 games.
—Katie Woo, New York Times, 12 May 2026
And that’s where things start to unravel.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 12 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for unravel
Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 13 May 2026
That legacy began to unravel in 2019 when son Paul was in a fatal boat crash.
—Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 May 2026
Things unraveled in the final three innings, with the Giants rolling to a 9-3 win that gave the Dodgers their eighth loss in their last 12 games.
—Katie Woo, New York Times, 12 May 2026
And that’s where things start to unravel.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 12 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for unravel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unravel
Verb
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In recent years, that moral and political alignment has frayed.—
Michael W. Sonnenfeldt,
The Atlantic,
20 May 2026
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This compact began to fray in the 2010s as the scrappy upstarts of the early days grew into globe-spanning giants with untold power and influence.—
Jonathan Weber,
Fortune,
19 May 2026
Verb
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November 22 – December 21 A small system could suddenly solve more than expected today.—
Tarot.com,
Hartford Courant,
14 May 2026
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Fifty-one years later, Three Days of the Condor offers business leaders lessons in individual resilience, creative problem solving in chaos and the value of transparency under pressure.—
Paul Fitzgerald,
Rolling Stone,
14 May 2026
Verb
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Saab secretly met with the Drug Enforcement Administration before his first arrest and, in a closed-door court hearing in 2022, his lawyers revealed that the businessman for years had helped the DEA untangle corruption in Maduro’s inner circle.—
Joshua Goodman,
Los Angeles Times,
18 May 2026
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Make untangling tomato stems from their cage at the end of the growing season by allowing the plant to die and dry in place.—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
12 May 2026
Verb
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The racial and gender discrimination claims were dismissed, but Rogers and TCC were ordered to go through mediation to resolve the religious discrimination claim.—
Matthew Adams,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
14 May 2026
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Episode 2 of the first series sees a huge misunderstanding on the phone cause Gavin to have to drive to Wales to resolve his relationship.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
14 May 2026
Verb
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This is practically impossible for something with an enormous mass like a planet or star, as there’s no known way to disentangle the gravitational constant (G) from a mass (M) from orbital mechanics alone.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
6 May 2026
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The single-system design would be costly to disentangle — if possible at all.—
Jennifer Van Grove,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Slot is a good communicator who tries to properly answer every question, slipping in the occasional attempt at humour.—
Carl Anka,
New York Times,
17 May 2026
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Maybe that’s the point, but Sorogoyen leaves that question hanging in the balance and with us too detached at this point to care about answering it.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
17 May 2026
Verb
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In a feat of precision physics, researchers from Cornell and Stanford Universities have filmed atoms twisting and untwisting in perfect sync, a choreography that unfolds in just a trillionth of a second.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
12 Nov. 2025
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In rare cases, a volvulus can partially resolve on its own if the twist or obstruction is not severe and the intestine untwists spontaneously.—
Sarah Jividen,
Health,
22 Sep. 2024
Verb
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How to unsnarl the emotions that play tug-of-war with our souls?—
Michael Schulman,
New Yorker,
15 Dec. 2025
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During the recent supply-chain crisis, XPO helped unsnarl bottlenecks for customers in several industries.—
Joann S. Lublin,
Time,
27 Nov. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Unravel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unravel. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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