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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
unravel
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
solve/unravel a mystery (=find out what happened)
▪ The children were given the clues and had to try to solve the mystery.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
mystery
▪ When scientists attempt to unravel the mysteries of the past they always run up against a brick wall.
▪ A prepared statement failed to unravel the mystery.
▪ It excited her and she promised herself that one day she would unravel the mystery.
▪ For many years Frederick Delouche felt a particular need to unravel such mysteries.
■ VERB
begin
▪ Even to list these begins to unravel some of the complications in this everyday concept.
▪ But then things began to unravel.
▪ The case began unravelling when the intelligence ministry said renegade agents were responsible.
▪ When California's economy started to slow down, the loans began to unravel.
try
▪ Here are the issues put starkly, before we try to unravel them.
▪ When Philip tries to unravel truth from fiction, the task proves too much for him.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ After three years, their partnership began to unravel.
▪ Can scientists unravel the complex interactions of chemicals within foods?
▪ Scientists have not yet unraveled every detail of how genes work.
▪ We are only just beginning to unravel the mysteries of the human brain.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Each circle strengthens the others, until the whole is hard to unravel.
▪ Evidence for the importance of both is emerging, and unravelling their relative importance presents experimentalists with a major challenge.
▪ I do not claim to be able to unravel the complexities of atonement.
▪ Pop that unravels its own workings, undoes itself.
▪ Sadly, this will unravel some of the goodwill of recent weeks.
▪ To counter the danger of the former, Lacan would have us unravel the me entirely.
▪ We can also unravel those texts as individual answers to the problem of effective human agency.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Unravel

Unravel \Un*rav"el\, v. t. [1st pref. un- (intensive) + ravel.]

  1. To disentangle; to disengage or separate the threads of; as, to unravel a stocking.

  2. Hence, to clear from complication or difficulty; to unfold; to solve; as, to unravel a plot.

  3. To separate the connected or united parts of; to throw into disorder; to confuse. ``Art shall be conjured for it, and nature all unraveled.''
    --Dryden.

Unravel

Unravel \Un*rav"el\, v. i. To become unraveled, in any sense.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
unravel

c.1600 (transitive), from un- (2) + ravel (v.). Intransitive from 1640s. "The prefix is either reversive or intensive, according as ravel is taken to mean 'tangle' or 'untangle'" [Century Dictionary]. Related: Unravelled; unravelling; unravellment.

Wiktionary
unravel

vb. 1 to separate the threads (of); disentangle 2 (context intransitive English) to become undone; to collapse 3 (context figurative English) To clear from complication or difficulty; to unfold; to solve. 4 (context figurative English) To separate the connected or united parts of; to throw into disorder; to confuse.

WordNet
unravel
  1. v. become or cause to become undone by separating the fibers or threads of; "the sweater unravelled" [syn: unknot, unscramble, untangle, unpick] [ant: ravel, ravel]

  2. disentangle; "can you unravel the mystery?"; "unravel the ball or yarn" [syn: ravel, ravel out]

  3. become undone; "the sweater unraveled" [syn: run]

  4. [also: unravelling, unravelled]

Wikipedia
Unravel

"Unravel" is the third song on the album Homogenic by Björk, which was released in 1997. The song features a prominent example of Björk's use of a half-singing, half-speaking technique which, according to folklore specialist Njall Sigurason, is comparable to that of Old Icelandic choirmen. Structurally, the song is made up of a slowly sweeping melody, saxophones, a church organ, and distant-sounding electronic beats.

Unravel (TK song)

"Unravel" is the first solo single of Tōru "TK" Kitajima, of the band Ling Tosite Sigure. "Unravel" was released on July 23, 2014 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan.

Unravel (video game)

Unravel is a puzzle platform video game developed by the Swedish company, Coldwood Interactive and published by Electronic Arts. It was announced on 15 June 2015 and released in February 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. The game centres on Yarny, a small anthropomorphic creature made of yarn whom the player navigates through the environment, utilizing the unraveling yarn which makes up Yarny to solve puzzles, avoid dangerous creatures, and traverse obstacles.

Unravel received a favourable reception upon release, with many critics in agreement that the game's visuals, protagonist, soundtrack, and overall tone were among its strong suits. But some others raised criticisms concerning the controls, variety of puzzles, and platforming.

Usage examples of "unravel".

Underneath the radio ops were the aerologists and the slowly unraveling mystery of weather, seen now from above and outside.

Friedman chose to do so in anagram cipher, the solution to which he sealed in a time-stamped envelope, inviting readers to try and unravel it.

On each cane shaft, tied behind the iron arrowhead, was a tuft of unravelled hemp rope that had been soaked in pitch, which spluttered and then burned fiercely when touched with the slow-match, The archers loosed their arrows, which sailed up in a high, flaming parabola and dropped down to peg into the timbers of an anchored vessel.

By investigating what happens when sync unravels, mathematicians are helping cardiologists track down the cause of fibrillation, a deadly arrhythmia that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, suddenly and without warning, even those with no history of heart disease.

Perhaps Baldric had taken to unraveling himself instead of the tapestries.

He watched as Baldric bent down, picked up the end of a thread and very calmly and deliberately began to unravel the tapestry.

Heaven help the rest of England if Baldric ever decided to become a traveling unraveling minstrel.

The bikini bottom was tied on each hip, the strings dangling and begging to be unraveled.

In most humans the input and reactions were woven into a snarl that even biofeedback training could barely begin to unravel.

As he handed his briefcase the phone, the bureaucrat could hear the last of his agent unraveling itself back into oblivion.

Colangelo let out an enervated sigh, perhaps signaling an unraveling of restraint, and rushed at me, slashing with the chisel.

Net result was the discovery of a whole grunch of undeclared income, and then the whole thing unraveled.

To unravel these difficulties and to set the estate clear was a task worthy of the orderly and persevering diplomatist of Pumpernickel, and he set himself to work with prodigious assiduity.

Waves unraveled their white-lace petticoats against ribboned sand, glistening like old, tarnished silver.

The illicit magics Dakar had engaged to unravel the Koriani defenses in Jaelot had assuredly added more stress to the roiled currents of lane flux.