Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To undo or loosen (a knot or something knotted).
- intransitive verb To free from something that binds or restrains.
- intransitive verb To straighten out (difficulties, for example); resolve.
- intransitive verb To become untied.
from The Century Dictionary.
- 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.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To loosen, as something interlaced or knotted; to disengage the parts of.
- transitive verb To free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind.
- transitive verb To resolve; to unfold; to clear.
- intransitive verb To become untied or loosed.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
loosen , as something interlaced orknotted ; to disengage the parts of; as, to untie a knot. - verb transitive To
free from fastening or from restraint; to let loose; to unbind. - verb To
resolve ; to unfold; to clear. - verb intransitive To become untied or loosed.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb undo the ties of
- verb cause to become loose
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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* 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.
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Replacement of paper with a computer screen, and pencil with electrons, does not "untie" the process.
Groklaw 2008
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"untie" its aid by 2012-13, so that relief dollars can be spent in Africa, rather than on
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The Obama Administration tried mightily to entice Assad into "engaging" Washington in a vain attempt to untie Assad from his patron Ahmadinejad.
Amb. Marc Ginsberg: Syria-sly Mr.President, Turn the Heat Up on Assad Amb. Marc Ginsberg 2011
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The Obama Administration tried mightily to entice Assad into "engaging" Washington in a vain attempt to untie Assad from his patron Ahmadinejad.
Amb. Marc Ginsberg: Syria-sly Mr.President, Turn the Heat Up on Assad Amb. Marc Ginsberg 2011
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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.
Aaaargh! It's the end of Nigel in the Archers. Now which one was he again? 2011
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Oh this reminds me of a contortionist trying to untie himself after finding itself contorted.
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I must untie the knots of feeling in me, to see if I can uncover the truth of the situation.
Deadly Julie Chibbaro 2011
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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.
Taking It In Cheryl Diane Kidder 2011
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Rush needs to untie the other half of his brain, the part that does not have his ego tied to it.
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