What does "ravel" mean?
A tangled mess; an entanglement, a snarl, a tangle.
Ravel
/ˈɹævəl/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A tangled mess; an entanglement, a snarl, a tangle.
- Grammar: ravel is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: answer, ball up, bottom, can of worms.
- Useful contrasts: clarity, complicate, confuse.
- Usage evidence: "It's almost — I would not say a positive thing, but it's really helping in taming the more dangerous variants," Ravel said.
How to use "ravel"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "ravel" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "ravel" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "ravel" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "ravel" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
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- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "ravel" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "answer" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
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Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "ravel", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A tangled mess; an entanglement, a snarl, a tangle. Scotland, literary
"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.'"
- 2 a row of unravelled stitches wordnet
- 3 A confusing, intricate, or perplexing situation; a complication. Scotland, figuratively, literary
- 4 A thread which has unravelled from fabric, etc.; also, a situation of fabric, etc., coming apart; an unravelling. also, figuratively
Verb
- 1 To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle. transitive
"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."
- 2 tangle or complicate wordnet
- 3 Often followed by up: to form (something) out of discrete elements, like weaving fabric from threads; to knit. also, figuratively, transitive
"[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]."
- 4 disentangle wordnet
- 5 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. transitive
"[Y]ou ſhall haue one vvoman knit more in a hovver then any man can Rauell agen in ſeauen and tvventy yeare."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 To confuse or perplex (someone or something). figuratively, transitive
- 7 Often followed by out: to undo the intricacies of (a problem, etc.); to clarify, to disentangle. archaic, figuratively, transitive
"Make you to rouell^([sic]) all this matter out / That I eſſentially am not in madneſſe, / But mad in craft, […]"
- 8 To destroy or ruin (something), like unravelling fabric. figuratively, obsolete, transitive
"[S]helter, ſhelter, if you be ſeene / All's ravell'd out agen: ſtand there private, / And you'le find the very opportunity / To call you forth, and place you at the Table."
- 9 In the APL programming language: to reshape (a variable) into a vector. transitive
- 10 Often followed by out: of a reel of thread or skein of yarn; or a thread on a reel or a string of yarn in a skein, etc.: to become untwisted or unwound. intransitive
"[G]ive him a broad ſide my brave boyes with your Pikes, branch me his ſkin in Flovvers like a Sattin, and betvveene ever Flovver a mortall cut, your Royalty ſhall ravell, […]"
- 11 Often followed by out: of clothing, fabric, etc.: to become unwoven; to fray, to unravel. also, figuratively, intransitive
"But the real work of the First Thursday Foundation is remembering, and its biggest gift is knitting back together lives raveled by loss."
- 12 To become entangled or snarled. archaic, intransitive, obsolete
"[A]s you vnwinde her loue from him; / Least it ſhould rauell, and be good to none, / You muſt prouide to bottome it on me: / Which muſt be done, by praiſing me as much / As you, in worth diſpraiſe, ſir Valentine."
Proper Noun
- 1 A male given name.
- 2 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
""It's almost — I would not say a positive thing, but it's really helping in taming the more dangerous variants," Ravel said."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "ravel"?
Common synonyms include: answer, ball up, bottom, can of worms, chinese puzzle, clarify.
How do you use "ravel" in a sentence?
"It's almost — I would not say a positive thing, but it's really helping in taming the more dangerous variants," Ravel said.
How do you pronounce "ravel"?
Pronounced /ˈɹævəl/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
The verb is borrowed from Dutch ravelen, rafelen (“to tangle, become entangled; to fray; to unweave”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain. It has been suggested that the verb is originally derived from the noun, but the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as “very uncertain”, and instead regards the noun as having derived from the verb (compare Dutch rafel, raffel (“frayed thread”)). Ravel is a contranym having both the senses of tangling (verb senses 1.1, 1.2, 1.4.1, and 2.3; noun sense 1) and untangling (verb senses 1.3, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 2.1, and 2.2; noun sense 2). It would appear that the tangling senses predate the untangling ones (as in Dutch), but this is uncertain because the first published uses of both senses of the words occur around the same time.
Etymology 2
* As a French surname, from Ravel. * As an English surname, variant of Raffel. * As a German surname, Americanized from Raffel. * As an Indian surname, variant of Raval.