Library / English Dictionary

STRAIGHTEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put (things or places) in order

Example:

Tidy up your room!

Synonyms:

clean up; neaten; square away; straighten; straighten out; tidy; tidy up

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "straighten" is one way to...):

order (bring order to or into)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "straighten"):

make; make up (put in order or neaten)

clean; clean house; houseclean (clean and tidy up the house)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make straight or straighter

Example:

straighten hair

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "straighten" is one way to...):

arrange; set up (put into a proper or systematic order)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They straighten their hair

Also:

straighten out (make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear)

straighten out (extricate from entanglement)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make straight

Synonyms:

straighten; straighten out

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "straighten" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "straighten"):

untwist (cause to become untwisted)

unbend (free from flexure)

extend (open or straighten out; unbend)

channelise; channelize (cause to form a channel)

untwine (undo what has been twined together)

unweave (undo strands that have been woven together)

comb (straighten with a comb)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

straightener (a device for straightening)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Straighten by unrolling

Example:

roll out the big map

Synonyms:

roll out; straighten

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "straighten" is one way to...):

disentangle; unwind (separate the tangles of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Get up from a sitting or slouching position

Example:

The students straightened when the teacher entered

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "straighten" is one way to...):

change posture (undergo a change in bodily posture)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "straighten"):

rear; rise up (stand up on the hind legs, of quadrupeds)

draw up; pull up; straighten up (straighten oneself)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 6

Meaning:

Straighten up or out; make straight

Synonyms:

straighten; unbend

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "straighten" is one way to...):

change posture (undergo a change in bodily posture)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

bend (form a curve)

Credits

 Context examples: 

When asked if women should stop dyeing or straightening their hair, Sandler said, "We are exposed to many things that could potentially contribute to breast cancer, and it is unlikely that any single factor explains a woman’s risk.

(Permanent hair dye and straighteners may increase breast cancer risk, National Institutes of Health)

For my own part, I looked on Mr. Jack Maldon as a modern Sindbad, and pictured him the bosom friend of all the Rajahs in the East, sitting under canopies, smoking curly golden pipes—a mile long, if they could be straightened out.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And when the tinsmiths came, bringing with them all their tools in baskets, she inquired, Can you straighten out those dents in the Tin Woodman, and bend him back into shape again, and solder him together where he is broken?

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

But she straightened it the next moment.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He straightened himself and whirled swiftly.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Then Laurie straightened himself up, said, "It's all right, never mind," and went away without another word.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and burst into a hearty fit of laughter.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And now the matter had begun to straighten itself out wonderfully.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He straightened up in time to see a dim form disappearing across the snow into the shelter of the dark.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I straightened it out afterwards.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)