untangle

«untangle» in Mova's school dictionary: To undo knots or twists in string, hair, wires and so on — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

verb (untangle, untangles, untangled, untangling)

meaning for a pupil

1) To undo knots or twists in string, hair, wires and so on. tree →

2) To make a confusing problem or story clear. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life: untangle headphones, hair, fishing line, Christmas lights. In maths and stories: untangle a tricky problem step by step. Tells the reader someone is patiently sorting out a muddle.

examples

• Mum untangled the knots in my hair. tree →
• It took ages to untangle the fairy lights. tree →
• Can you help me untangle my headphones? tree →
• The detective untangled the mystery at last. tree →
• Let's untangle this word problem by writing what we know. tree →
• The fisherman untangled his line. tree →

note

Regular verb: untangled. Opposite: tangle. Takes «an»: «an untangled rope».

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «untangle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.