unravel
to solve or explain
TRANSLATION
unravel = enträtseln, aufklären unravel = auseinanderwickeln, aufdröseln to become unravelled = sich auflösen --- GOOGLE INDEX unravel: approximately 3,800,000 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
UNRAVELLING a medical mystery
(BBC - News Headline)
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Human curiosity, the urge to know, is a powerful force and is perhaps the best secret weapon of all in the struggle to UNRAVEL the workings of the natural world.
- Aaron Klug, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry
(BBC - News Headline)
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Human curiosity, the urge to know, is a powerful force and is perhaps the best secret weapon of all in the struggle to UNRAVEL the workings of the natural world.
- Aaron Klug, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry
Did you
know?
unravel
verb
- If you unravel a mysterious, unknown or complicated subject, you make it known or understood, and if it unravels, it becomes known or understood
- If a piece of woollen or woven cloth, a knot, or a mass of thread unravels, it separates into a single thread, and if you unravel it, you separate it into a single thread
- If a process or achievement that was slow and complicated unravels or is unravelled, it is destroyed
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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A school drop-out who unravelled the mysteries of electricity?
Although he never finished his formal education, Thomas Alva Edison, with more than a thousand patents to his name, was revered for his ingenuity. Shortly before his death, a reporter asked Edison what it was that made a person a genius. Edison hesitated for a moment before replying with his now-famous maxim: "Genius is one percent inspiration - and 99 percent perspiration."
Note: A person can also become unravelled. In this context, it means to become totally confused, lose control or be unable to perform some task or activity that you normally do with ease (The mayor became unravelled after someone yelled at him and interrupted his speech).
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SYNONYMS
to clarify something:
clear up, disclose, explain, resolve, sort out
to untangle something:
disentangle, free, separate, straighten out, undo, unknot, unsnarl, unwind
to be destroyed:
fall apart, come apart
in the context of a person:
become unglued, become unsettled, become flustered, become rattled
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Strange computer crashes? Call Bob in the IT department, he will be able to unravel the mystery."
verb
- If you unravel a mysterious, unknown or complicated subject, you make it known or understood, and if it unravels, it becomes known or understood
- If a piece of woollen or woven cloth, a knot, or a mass of thread unravels, it separates into a single thread, and if you unravel it, you separate it into a single thread
- If a process or achievement that was slow and complicated unravels or is unravelled, it is destroyed
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
A school drop-out who unravelled the mysteries of electricity?
Although he never finished his formal education, Thomas Alva Edison, with more than a thousand patents to his name, was revered for his ingenuity. Shortly before his death, a reporter asked Edison what it was that made a person a genius. Edison hesitated for a moment before replying with his now-famous maxim: "Genius is one percent inspiration - and 99 percent perspiration."
Note: A person can also become unravelled. In this context, it means to become totally confused, lose control or be unable to perform some task or activity that you normally do with ease (The mayor became unravelled after someone yelled at him and interrupted his speech).
---
SYNONYMS
to clarify something:
clear up, disclose, explain, resolve, sort out
to untangle something:
disentangle, free, separate, straighten out, undo, unknot, unsnarl, unwind
to be destroyed:
fall apart, come apart
in the context of a person:
become unglued, become unsettled, become flustered, become rattled
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Strange computer crashes? Call Bob in the IT department, he will be able to unravel the mystery."
