Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To separate the fibers or threads of (cloth, for example); unravel.
- intransitive verb To clarify by separating the aspects of.
- intransitive verb To tangle or complicate.
- intransitive verb To become separated into its component threads; unravel or fray.
- intransitive verb To become tangled or confused.
- noun A raveling.
- noun A broken or discarded thread.
- noun A tangle.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To tangle; entangle; entwine confusedly; involve in a tangled or knotted mass, as thread or hair mingled together loosely.
- Hence To involve; perplex; confuse.
- To treat confusedly; jumble; muddle.
- To disentangle; disengage the threads or fibers of (a woven or knitted fabric, a rope, a mass of tangled hair, etc.); draw apart thread by thread; unravel: commonly with out: in this sense (the exact contrary of the first sense), originally with out, ravel out being equivalent to unravel.
- To become entangled or snarled, as the ends of loose and dangling threads, or a mass of loose hair.
- Hence To become involved or confused; fall into perplexity.
- To curl up, as a hard-twisted thread.
- To become untwisted or disjoined, as the outer threads of a loosely made fabric or the strands of a rope; become disjoined thread by thread; fray, as a garment at the edges: commonly with out.
- Hence To suffer gradual disintegration or decay.
- To make a minute and careful examination in order to straighten what is confused, unfold what is hidden, or clear up what is obscure; investigate; search; explore.
- Same as
rabble . - noun A raveled thread; a raveling.
- noun plural The broken threads cast away by women at their needlework.
- noun In weaving, a serrated instrument for guiding the separate yarns when being distributed and wound upon the yarn-beam of a loom, or for guiding the yarns wound on a balloon; an evener; a separator.
- noun Also, in Scotch spelling, raivel.
- noun A snarl; a complication.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To become untwisted or unwoven; to be disentangled; to be relieved of intricacy.
- intransitive verb obsolete To fall into perplexity and confusion.
- intransitive verb obsolete To make investigation or search, as by picking out the threads of a woven pattern.
- transitive verb To separate or undo the texture of; to unravel; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by
out - transitive verb To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle.
- transitive verb To pull apart, as the threads of a texture, and let them fall into a tangled mass; hence, to entangle; to make intricate; to involve.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
snarl ,complication - verb to
tangle ;entangle ;entwine confusedly, becomesnarled ; thus toinvolve ;perplex ;confuse - verb To make a minute and careful examination in order to straighten what is confused, unfold what is hidden, or clear up,
clarify what is obscure;investigate ;search ;explore - verb To pull apart (especially cloth or a seam);
unravel - verb computing, programming In the
APL language, toreshape (a variable) into avector .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb disentangle
- noun a row of unravelled stitches
- noun French composer and exponent of Impressionism (1875-1937)
- verb tangle or complicate
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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This attachment is also called a ravel or raivel; and folk-names for it (not in the dictionary) were wrathe and rake; the latter a very good descriptive title.
Home Life in Colonial Days Alice Morse Earle 1881
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Even if you are not a fan of big breasts wielded by tiny, multilingual women, my feeling about you is that you will appreciate their dusky fleshiness and call your ravel agent, as they say in Italy, pronto.
Fleshbot 2009
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The surgeon thrust in his hand and fumbled about for some time, while I wondered whether the feel of that one brown thread could be detected from the rest of the ravel.
Chapter 19 2010
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The surgeon thrust in his hand and fumbled about for some time, while I wondered whether the feel of that one brown thread could be detected from the rest of the ravel.
Chapter 19 2010
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In the ravel of one of these pieces was a bit of brown thread.
Chapter 19 2010
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The partisans assured us that it was quite safe to ravel along the edge of the valley, although I did not like the idea as now our chances of getting through looked fairly sound and thought a little extra caution at this stage would pay.
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In the ravel of one of these pieces was a bit of brown thread.
Chapter 19 2010
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I came up with the idea of cutting those towels in half and hemming the raw edges so that they didn't ravel.
Hints From Heloise 2010
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I came up with the idea of cutting those towels in half and hemming the raw edges so that they didn't ravel.
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With teh prices of ravel, hunting, this will be my lst trip west unless a rich uncle leaves me a ton.
oroboros commented on the word ravel
Contronymic in the sense: unravel vs. tangle, complicate.
January 31, 2007
bilby commented on the word ravel
And time will close about me, and my soul stir to the rhythm of the daily round.
Yet, having known, life will not press so close, and always I shall feel time
ravel thin about me;
For once I stood
In the white windy presence of eternity.
- Eunice Tietjens, 'The Most-Sacred Mountain'.
October 4, 2008
yarb commented on the word ravel
The savannah valley is shadeless, spotted only with the thorny ravel of mesquite bushes.
- D.H. Lawrence, Walk to Huayapa, from Mornings in Mexico, 1927
October 5, 2008
fbharjo commented on the word ravel
revel in ravel
March 30, 2012
bilby commented on the word ravel
Ravel means unravel, for all you irregardless fans.
September 1, 2021
alexz commented on the word ravel
irreravelless
September 2, 2021
bilby commented on the word ravel
Yes.
September 3, 2021