Definition of Straighten out

1. Verb. Settle or put right. "We need to iron out our disagreements"

Exact synonyms: Iron Out, Put Right
Generic synonyms: Ameliorate, Amend, Better, Improve, Meliorate

2. Verb. Extricate from entanglement. "They straighten out their hair "; "Can you disentangle the cord?"
Exact synonyms: Disentangle, Unsnarl
Generic synonyms: Order
Specialized synonyms: Loosen, Tease, Tease Apart, Ravel, Ravel Out, Unravel
Derivative terms: Disentanglement, Unsnarling
Antonyms: Entangle, Snarl

3. Verb. Change for the better. "The habitual cheater finally saw the light"
Exact synonyms: Reform, See The Light
Generic synonyms: Ameliorate, Better, Improve, Meliorate
Related verbs: Reclaim, Rectify, Reform, Regenerate
Derivative terms: Reform, Reformation, Reformatory

4. Verb. Make straight.
Exact synonyms: Straighten
Generic synonyms: Alter, Change, Modify
Specialized synonyms: Untwist, Unbend, Extend, Channelise, Channelize, Untwine, Unweave, Comb
Derivative terms: Straightener

5. Verb. Make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear. "Clear up the question of who is at fault"

6. Verb. Put (things or places) in order. "Tidy up your room!"
Exact synonyms: Clean Up, Neaten, Square Away, Straighten, Tidy, Tidy Up
Specialized synonyms: Make, Make Up, Clean, Clean House, Houseclean
Generic synonyms: Order

Straighten Out Pictures

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Lexicographical Neighbors of Straighten Out

straight-out
straightarrow(a)
straightaway
straightaways
straightbred
straightbreds
straighted
straightedge
straightedges
straighten
straightened
straightener
straighteners
straightening
straightens
straighten out (current term)
straighten up
straighter
straightest
straightforward
straightforwardly
straightforwardness
straighting
straightish
straightjacket
straightjackets
straightlaced
straightly
straightness
straightnesses

Literary usage of Straighten out

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Popular Science Monthly by Harry Houdini Collection (Library of Congress) (1885)
"When the mouth is opened their elasticity causes them to straighten out like a bow that is unbent, so that, at whatever distance the jaws are separated, ..."

2. Dictionary of Americanisms. by John Russell Bartlett (1877)
"straighten out this remarkable expression. " Which is which " explains itself, as ordinarily heard. So does even the " but what" for " that," &c., ..."

3. Screw Machine Kinks by Fred Herbert Colvin, Frank Arthur Stanley (1908)
"boards, rather, that helped us straighten out a lot of samples and get rid of some of the bunches of junk that were suspended on the old board. FIG. 30. ..."

4. The New International Encyclopædia edited by Daniel Coit Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby (1904)
"The first chain feeds the fibres to the second, which runs much slo-,ver, the effect being to comb or straighten out the fibres and draw them into a ..."

5. Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Oregon by Oregon Supreme Court (1900)
"Then McGuire said that Nicolai would not be very able to straighten out his matters, so that, when he had hold of the property and ..."

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