Unbutton

//ʌnˈbʌtən// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To open (something) by undoing its buttons. ambitransitive

    "Being now too high wound up to bear a delay, he unbutton'd, and drawing out the engine of love-assaults, drove it currently, as at a ready-made breach"

  2. 2
    undo the buttons of wordnet
  3. 3
    To come open by having its buttons unfastened. ergative, intransitive

    "He was so muscled and firm, and the canvas shirt under his jacket unbuttoned easily."

Synonyms

All synonyms
cast offdetachdisengagedofffreeliberate

Antonyms

All antonyms
button

Example

More examples

"Tom started to unbutton his shirt."

Etymology

From Middle English onbottonen, unbotonen; equivalent to un- + button.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.