Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To loosen from a clenched position; relax: unclench one's fists.
- v. To become unclenched.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To open, or to force open, as the closed hand.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive to open (something that was clenched)
- v. intransitive to relax, especially one's muscles
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. Same as unclinch.
Etymologies
- From un- + clench. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“By adopting this approach, President Obama would be carrying out his inaugural offer to repressive regimes of extending a hand - but only to those willing to "unclench" their fists.”
Jerry Fowler: President Obama Must Address Sudan at the UN General Assembly
“An Iranian theocratic regime had launched a bid for dominion in its region; Mr. Obama offered it an olive branch and waited for it to "unclench" its fist.”
“In between apologizing for our past, our present, our strength, and our prosperity, the Bama promised our enemies great rewards if they'd just "unclench" their fists.”
“Middle East specialists said the latest move was not surprising, given President Obama's remarks in his inaugural address that Washington was willing to extend a hand to hostile regimes if they "unclench" their fists.”
“unclench" its fist, amid reports that the new administration is considering further gestures.”
“Nor did he unclench his hands during all the time they sang.”
“They teach me to let go, to unclench, to find peace.”
The Huffington Post: Shasta Nelson, M.Div.: Blessing of the Open Hands
“As the President put it in his inaugural address: "… we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist".”
“You unclench, unwind, swish your hair to the right side, gingerly run the back of your fingers under your nose and over your twitching lips, pick up the tray and open the laptop.”
“Mr. Obama had said he was willing to deal with the theocracy and regimes like it so long as they were willing to "unclench their fist.”
The Wall Street Journal: Hillary Clinton Echoes the Bush Doc
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘unclench’.
-
EN - unverbs
Funnily, 'un-VERBs' are much less common as stand-alone units than in suffixed derivatives (unbelievable - but *unbelieve, unexpectedly - but *unexpect, uninsured - but *uninsure, etc.) Can you fin...
unbox, unpack, unlike, unveil, unlink, uncover, unfold, undo, unamen, unadorn, unalign, unbound and 22 more...
-
Uncle! Uncle!
Uncles, words or phrases with the letters u-n-c-l-e (in that order), and anything avuncular.
uncle, avuncular, Uncle Sam, The Man From U.N...., peduncle, avunculus, say uncle, avunculate, avunculism, patruus, avunculocal, nuncle and 22 more...
-
whitmanian
from the poetry and prose of walt whitman
celebrate, assume, loafe, grass, summer, distillation, atmosphere, undisguised, naked, mad, breath, loveroot and 291 more...
-
"letting go" words
words from the IE root orbh- and others words that change allegiance
orphan, robot, let, liege, allegiance, late, later, last, lassitude, alas, lenient, lenis and 41 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for unclench.
bilby "Extending his hand to Tehran, President Obama has invited those who govern the Islamic republic to 'unclench their fists.' Yet to a considerable degree, those clenched fists are of our own making."
- Andrew Bacevich, Farewell, the American Century, tomdispatch.com, 28 April 2009. Apr 29, 2009