unravel

Etymology

From un- + ravel. Compare Dutch ontrafelen (“to unravel”).

verb

1. (transitive) To separate the threads (of); disentangle.
   Stop playing with the seam of the tablecloth! You'll unravel it.
   Mother couldn't unravel the ball of wool after the cat had played with it.
2. (intransitive, of threads etc.) To become separated; (of something woven, knitted, etc.) to come apart.
   […] the burning threads Of woven cloud unravel in pale air: 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, London: C. & J. Ollier, act II, scene 1, page 63
   The yarn baby lasted a good month […] before Ogechi snagged its thigh on a nail and it unravelled as she continued walking […] 26 October 2015, Lesley Nneka Arimah, “Who Will Greet You at Home”, in The New Yorker
3. (transitive, figurative) To clear from complication or difficulty; to unfold; to solve.
   to unravel a plot
   to unravel a mystery
   to unravel the confusion
   […] he disputed best, and unravell’d the difficulties of Philosophy with most success when he was at Supper, and well warm’d with Wine. 1683, John Dryden, “Life of Plutarch”, in Plutarchs Lives, volume 1, London: Jacob Tonson, page 9
   I left Holmes seated in front of the smouldering fire, and long into the watches of the night I heard the low, melancholy wailings of his violin, and knew that he was still pondering over the strange problem which he had set himself to unravel. 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 5, in A Study in Scarlet
   Besides assisting in unravelling these two etymological conundrums, the present research also made an effort to approach a greater accuracy in presenting the original sources of borrowed words. 2018, James Lambert, “Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles”, in World Englishes, volume 37, page 255
4. (transitive, figurative) To separate the connected or united parts of; to throw into disorder; to confuse.
   to unravel the global compromise achieved in the Constitutional Treaty
   to unravel the broad consensus which was created
   Storm Charlie had raged throught [sic] the night and was unleashing further gusts on the morning that RAIL was due to inspect a vegetation management project in Kent. Bit by bit, the train timetable unravelled. A trip beginning at Bradford-on-Avon belatedly reached Bath, but that turned out to be journey's end. June 3 2020, Andrew Mourant, “A safer railway in a greener habitat”, in Rail, page 58
5. (intransitive, figurative) To become undone; to collapse.
   The great Ponzi scheme that lies behind our State pension is unravelling – as they all do eventually – because money being taken from new investors is insufficient to honour promises issued to earlier generations. June 24 2010, Ian Cowie, “State pension Ponzi scheme unravels with retirement at 70”, in The Telegraph