1
as in unraveling
to separate the various strands of
gently untangled the baby's hair
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in freeing
to set free from entanglement or difficulty
I was finally able to untangle myself from my credit problems
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Recent Examples of untangling
The procedural stories are simple whodunnits with a New York twist—Murder on Broadway has Hizzoner untangling the on-stage shooting at the closing of a long-running musical, for example.
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James Folta, Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2025
Hanging ornaments with care can be one of the highlights of the holiday season, but untangling wads of string lights is far less enjoyable.
—Maggie Horton, PEOPLE, 22 Oct. 2025
The album was heralded as Lorde’s most personal project to date, with the singer examining and untangling gender roles, body image issues and her sexuality.
—Lyndsey Havens, Billboard, 6 Oct. 2025
The unique energy coming off Dickinson in the role seems to have been hard-earned — a result of his years spent tying the knots of his own masculinity and then eventually untangling them.
—Carrie Battan, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2025
The show, so far, has emphasized a clear-eyed approach to its subjects’ misdeeds, but also curiosity about untangling their psyches.
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 30 Sep. 2025
With the help of resourceful Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente), Bourne evades capture from the CIA — namely data analyst Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and Deputy Director Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) — while untangling his involvement in the deadly Operation Treadstone.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Sep. 2025
For Glessner Lee, the puzzle of untangling the truth about violent deaths proved irresistible.
—Katie Hafner, Scientific American, 10 Sep. 2025
Many modern and contemporary writers are drawn to the villanelle as a way to circle around their subject matter, exploring obsession, enchantment, brooding, or the slow work of untangling a difficult emotion.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 19 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for untangling
Verb
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But tensions between the factions and the two Gulf nations appear to be unraveling the coalition, threatening to throw them into outright conflict and further tear apart the Arab world’s poorest country.—
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Mary Bronstein’s film stars Rose Byrne as a Long Island mom unraveling while dealing with her daughter’s mysterious stomach ailment.—
Verb
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In a season when the team knew kickoffs would become more valuable because of touchback rule changes, the Chiefs were behind the curve on kickoff placement and freeing up their returners in the open field.—
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IntBot’s commercial deployments now extend this social intelligence to hotels and other public spaces, freeing human staff from routine tasks.—
Verb
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Kendricks wound up making the game-saving play by breaking up the fourth-down pass to Goedert.—
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This nws in not just about saving the tunnel project, but is also an interesting showcase of what can be achieved with a little bit of lateral thinking and planning.—
Verb
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Our narrator, a gay, happily married father of two disentangling himself from a poly love affair, is—depending on the light—brilliant, self-mythologizing, abject, hopeful, and vulnerable.—
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Brittany Luse is joined by writer and journalist Ana Marie Cox to get into how people are disentangling alcohol from their lives, and the lessons she's learned as a recovering alcoholic.—
Verb
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Liberation is funny, poignant and, yes, liberating in its expression of the very human need for justice and freedom in an era when those words have been co-opted by forces who value only self-enrichment.—
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In 1943, as the Red Army began liberating Soviet territories from German occupation, the committee was inundated by letters from surviving and returning Jews.—
Cite this Entry
“Untangling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/untangling. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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