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Webster's New World College Dictionary » ravelling
ravelling
Variant of ravel
ravel
definition
ravel (rav′əl)
transitive verb raveled -·eled or ravelled -·elled, raveling -·el·ing or ravelling -·el·ling
- Now Rare to make complicated or tangled parts of his argument were all raveled up
- to separate the parts, esp. threads, of; untwist; unweave; unravel
- to make clear; disentangle
Etymology: MDu ravelen (Du rafelen), akin to LowG rabbeln, Dan dial. vrøvle: for IE base see rhapsody
intransitive verb
- to become separated into its parts, esp. threads; become unwoven; fray (out)
- Archaic to become complicated or tangled
noun
- a raveled part in a fabric; raveling
- a tangled mass or complication
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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