Meaning

To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle..

Definitions by Sense

1. To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle.
2. Often followed by up: to form (something) out of discrete elements, like weaving fabric from threads; to knit.
3. To unwind (a reel of thread, a skein of yarn, etc.); to pull apart (cloth, a seam, etc.); to fray, to unpick, to unravel; also, to pull out (a string of yarn, a thread, etc.) from a piece of fabric, or a skein or reel.
4. To confuse or perplex (someone or something).
5. Often followed by out: to undo the intricacies of (a problem, etc.); to clarify, to disentangle.
6. To destroy or ruin (something), like unravelling fabric.
7. In the APL programming language: to reshape (a variable) into a vector.
8. Often followed by out: of a reel of thread or skein of yarn; or a thread on a reel or a string of yarn in a skein, etc.: to become untwisted or unwound.

Example Sentences

For the faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is so often untwisted by violence, or ravelled and entangled in weak discourses, or so false and fallacious by its mixture of interest, that though men usually put most confidences in the pretences of faith, yet no pretences are most unreasonable.

When paſſive Thouſands ſtretch beneath his Sword, / And freely die at his Imperial Word, / Thoſe wild, unhappy, ſelf-defending Few, / If not deſtroy'd in Time, will ravel all the Clew; […]

What trade would not be the worse of him? […] [M]ake a clerk of him, and he would only ravel the figures; send him to the soldiering, and he would have a sudden impulse to fight on the wrong side.

[Magazine staffer about his political team:] Pencils at the ready, keen brains agleam behind intelligent horn rims, these experts spread out to ravel the loose ends of White-Housing, web-spinning spiders for [the presidential candidate].

[Y]ou ſhall haue one vvoman knit more in a hovver then any man can Rauell agen in ſeauen and tvventy yeare.

If there be any fault in the verses, I can mend it extempore; for a stitch in a man's stocking not taken up in time, ravels out all the rest.

[S]ince the noble Chief / Ulyſſes is no more, preſs not as yet / My nuptials, wait 'till I ſhall finiſh, firſt, / A fun'ral robe […] Thenceforth, all day / She wove the ample web, and by the aid / Of torches ravell'd it again at night. / Three years by ſuch contrivance ſhe deceived / The Grecians: […]

Make you to rouell^([sic]) all this matter out / That I eſſentially am not in madneſſe, / But mad in craft, […]

Word Forms

• ravels
• raveling
• ravelling
• raveled
• ravelled

Synonyms for ravel

Antonyms for ravel

Related Words

When Should You Use Ravel?

Use ravel when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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