i Register
In some senses, ravel is marked as figuratively, archaic, literary. Watch for register when choosing this word.
ravel
/ˈɹævəl/
verb 5noun 3name 2
Collocations
5ADJ.
all, dangerous, lovely, nice, thorny
VERB + RAVEL
race, time
RAVEL + NOUN
bushes, clew, sunflowers, we're
PREP.
after, in, in, with
ADV.
only
Definitions
verb
1
To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle.
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; […]
2
Often followed by up: to form (something) out of discrete elements, like weaving fabric from threads; to knit.
[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].
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.
[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.
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.
Make you to rouell^([sic]) all this matter out / That I eſſentially am not in madneſſe, / But mad in craft, […]
noun
1
A tangled mess; an entanglement, a snarl, a tangle.
Mr. Urquhart was in sic a ravel after it that when he gies out the first line o' the hunder and nineteenth psalm for singing, says he, 'And so on to the end.'
There was a lovely ravel of sunflowers in the garden. She looked out the window. "There are my sunflowers!" she said.
2
A confusing, intricate, or perplexing situation; a complication.
3
A thread which has unravelled from fabric, etc.; also, a situation of fabric, etc., coming apart; an unravelling.
name
1
A male given name.
2
A surname.
Thesaurus
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
601
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 inter
Wiktionary02
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; […]
Wiktionary03
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.
Wiktionary04
Mr. Urquhart was in sic a ravel after it that when he gies out the first line o' the hunder and nineteenth psalm for singing, says he, 'And so on to the end.'
Wiktionary05
There was a lovely ravel of sunflowers in the garden. She looked out the window. "There are my sunflowers!" she said.
Wiktionary06
The savannah valley is shadeless, spotted only with the thorny ravel of mesquite bushes.
WiktionaryUsage Notes
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