unraveled

verb

past tense of unravel
1
as in frayed
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 solved
to find an answer for through reasoning unraveled the mystery

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of unraveled The agreement was signed in June and unraveled in a matter of days. — Hanna Ziady, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026 At once pragmatic and playful, Anderson seems to be taking on the world these days like someone who’s unraveled a deeper mystery. — Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026 The Oath Keepers case unraveled this week, just as three former federal prosecutors who handled the riot cases appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning. — Carrie Johnson, NPR, 5 Aug. 2026 But his bogus life story of being a wealthy Wall Street player with a college degree and other accomplishments quickly unraveled. — CBS News, 1 Aug. 2026 The 400-Homer, 10-Gold Glove Club — This isn’t the time or place to talk about how Jones’ career unraveled after age 30. — Jayson Stark, New York Times, 26 July 2026 The alleged plot was unraveled by Bahamian authorities during an unrelated break-in investigation at a local bar in Abaco, Bahamas. — Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 26 July 2026 Faye and Sonko's alliance, forged ahead of the 2024 presidential election, unraveled amid disputes over key policy decisions, including how to approach negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a loan program amid a severe debt crisis. — ABC News, 25 July 2026 But the negotiations unraveled after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and the devastating Gaza war that followed. — Marie-Rose Sheinerman, The Atlantic, 24 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unraveled
  1. frayed
  2. solved
  3. untwisted
  4. answered
  5. disentangled
  6. resolved
  7. smoothed
Verb
  • Reconstituting the bilateral bond between the two countries, now frayed by more than a year of threats and punitive measures, will not happen overnight.
    — Kate Nishimura, Footwear News, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Moore’s frayed, full-volume, Barbie-pink ball gown with a distressed bow was a break from her usual structured looks.
    — Beatrice Dupuy, Chicago Tribune, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of frayed
Verb
  • What Arcade Actually Bought At its core, Smithery solved a discovery and packaging problem.
    — Janakiram MSV, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Museum officials initially lowered blackout shades over the windows, which solved the conservation problem but created another one.
    — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of solved
Verb
  • If the testicle is not untwisted within hours, it can be lost.
    — Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt, CNN Money, 25 June 2026
  • Daily untwisted the beer bottle cap, poured it into his shoe, and took a healthy swig, standing up for dramatic effect.
    — Marina Watts, Entertainment Weekly, 3 June 2026
Definition of untwisted
Verb
  • His impact cannot be measured simply in years of service, calls answered, or accomplishments.
    — Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 10 Aug. 2026
  • The man composes his responses with the help of a manual that instructs him on which incoming string of Chinese characters should be answered with which other string of Chinese characters.
    — Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of answered
Verb
  • Systems have to be disentangled, employees moved, contracts rewritten, and corporate functions recreated.
    — Jim Osman, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • To pretend that a cover is merely incidental is to ignore how much of literature is extraliterary, as if consciousness can be easily disentangled from the body.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of disentangled
Verb
  • So far, this is the only one of the NTSB recommendations stemming from the crash that has been resolved and marked closed by the agency.
    — Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 13 Aug. 2026
  • The Powell settlement in January created a sense of optimism that more cases would be resolved, and quickly.
    — Luke Cyphers, Sportico.com, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of resolved
Verb
  • My father had been a projectionist briefly in the ’50s, and that smoothed my path into the union, which was a very closed union.
    — Chris Stanton, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The hair at the crown is smoothed back but not slick—in fact, there’s a decent amount of volume up top—with virtually no visible part.
    — Marci Robin, Allure, 2 July 2026
Definition of smoothed

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unravel
unraveled
unraveling
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Cite this Entry

“Unraveled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unraveled. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on unraveled

Nglish: Translation of unraveled for Spanish Speakers

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