Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To undo or loosen (a knot or something knotted).
- v. To free from something that binds or restrains: untie a horse from a tree.
- v. To straighten out (difficulties, for example); resolve.
- v. To become untied.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To undo, as a knot.
- To undo the fastenings, bands, cords, or wrappings of; loosen and remove the tyings from: as, to unlie a bundle; hence, to let or set loose; dissolve the bonds of; liberate.
- To loosen from coils or convolutions.
- To resolve; unfold; clear.
- To come untied; become loose.
Wiktionary
- v. To loosen, as something interlaced or knotted; to disengage the parts of; as, to untie a knot.
- v. To free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind.
- v. To resolve; to unfold; to clear.
- v. To become untied or loosed.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To loosen, as something interlaced or knotted; to disengage the parts of.
- v. To free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind.
- v. To resolve; to unfold; to clear.
- v. To become untied or loosed.
WordNet 3.0
- v. undo the ties of
- v. cause to become loose
Examples
“* This first-of-its-kind promotion will "untie" families from giving dad the traditional, same-old gift, instead offering him something he craves - a new smartphone.”
“Replacement of paper with a computer screen, and pencil with electrons, does not "untie" the process.”
“untie" its aid by 2012-13, so that relief dollars can be spent in Africa, rather than on”
“I did listen to the celebrated 60th anniversary episode, but I'm afraid I lost it when Nigel and someone else climbed on to the gables on a dark and icy night to untie a banner.”
The Guardian: Aaaargh! It's the end of Nigel in the Archers. Now which one was he again?
“Oh this reminds me of a contortionist trying to untie himself after finding itself contorted.”
“She knew how to bite through a gag, untie the most complex knots and bust out of a locked room using the quarter-sized bit of nitroglycerin secreted into the heel of her go-go boot.”
“Rush needs to untie the other half of his brain, the part that does not have his ego tied to it.”
“The Obama Administration tried mightily to entice Assad into "engaging" Washington in a vain attempt to untie Assad from his patron Ahmadinejad.”
The Huffington Post: Amb. Marc Ginsberg: Syria-sly Mr.President, Turn the Heat Up on Assad
“I must untie the knots of feeling in me, to see if I can uncover the truth of the situation.”
“I'll tell you what it doth profit as soon as I can untie my tongue from these frigging fricatives.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘untie’.
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Undo
A list of terms that denote separating one thing from another, or deconstructing a thing into its parts or to a former state. E.g., untie, divorce, unscramble.
untie, divorce, unscramble, disunite, disjoin, undo, separate, disassemble, uncouple, unhitch, disassociate, disaffiliate and 178 more...
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