Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To reverse or erase; annul.
  • intransitive verb To untie, disassemble, or loosen.
  • intransitive verb To open (a parcel, for example); unwrap.
  • intransitive verb To cause the ruin or downfall of; destroy.
  • intransitive verb To throw into confusion; unsettle.
  • intransitive verb To come open or unfastened.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To leave unperformed or unexecuted: usually in opposition with do.
  • To put back into a former condition; reverse, as something which has been done; annul; bring to nought.
  • To untie or unfasten; unloose; unfix; open.
  • To find the answer or explanation of; solve.
  • To bring ruin or distress upon; ruin the morals, character, reputation, or prospects of; destroy; annihilate; spoil; ruin.
  • To reveal; disclose; unfold; explain.
  • To be too much for the power of; baffle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To reverse, as what has been done; to annul; to bring to naught.
  • transitive verb To loose; to open; to take to piece; to unfasten; to untie; hence, to unravel; to solve.
  • transitive verb To bring to poverty; to impoverish; to ruin, as in reputation, morals, hopes, or the like.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To reverse the effects of an action. syn.
  • verb To unfasten. ant. syn.
  • verb figuratively to be heading for or to cause a downfall

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb deprive of certain characteristics
  • verb cancel, annul, or reverse an action or its effect
  • verb cause to become loose
  • verb cause the ruin or downfall of
  • verb remove the outer cover or wrapping of

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

un- +‎ do

Support

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Examples

  • Leaving your parents out of your lives can result in undo stress, as then you will have to deal with their protests or their anquish over you.

    Reducing Stress 2005

  • Leaving your parents out of your lives can result in undo stress, as then you will have to deal with their protests or their anquish over you.

    Archive 2005-04-01 2005

  • Mandela added that economic development would, however, in the longer term undo the socio-economic conditions responsible for a large part of the problem of crime.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1995

  • Yet he realized that were Henry to be entrusted with the regency he would change in the most radical fashion the course of the ship of state; would introduce measures dear to the late Emperor Frederick, but to which he, the kaiser, was unalterably opposed, and would, in short, undo everything that he himself had done; so that when eventually the crown prince came of age there would be no longer any possibility of his continuing his father's policy, a policy which the emperor has been at great pains to inculcate into his boy.

    The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe Fontenoy, Mme La Marquise De 1900

  • She shuddered, as though to say the name would undo her again.

    UNIFICATION 1990

  • She shuddered, as though to say the name would undo her again.

    UNIFICATION 1990

  • She shuddered, as though to say the name would undo her again.

    UNIFICATION 1990

  • OmniGraffle wisely sports an Undo button, and it supports many, many levels of undo, which is great.

    Macworld Lex Friedman 2010

  • Rename undo is the way to avoid all that, with little or no performance

    LXer Linux News 2009

  • Every one else after that was just capitalizing on the works of Lotus developers. humans and microsoft? do they even know how to spell user interface design? and am I just way old or does anyone remember Visicalc that preceded both lotus and excel? as for undo, which is what the conversation started with, why would any one want it, we're all perfect right?

    Google Watch 2009

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