Tom spent most of the morning straightening up his office.
Source: tatoeba (1223650)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Keep "straightening" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "straightening" intact in the sentence you are editing.
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
After choosing a replacement for "straightening", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "straightening" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Showing 16 of 17 words.
Showing 16 of 19 words.
11 total sentences available.
Tom spent most of the morning straightening up his office.
Source: tatoeba (1223650)
She's now straightening up her room.
Source: tatoeba (1223718)
"Do you know what kind of tree you just broke?" "No, I don't," I answered the detective. While looking through the open door, the detective shouted, "Hey, do you know what kind of tree he just broke?" "Um, looks like it's a yew plum pine," said the voice of a young woman. After straightening himself in his seat, the detective asked me one more time: "Do you know what kind of tree you just broke?"
Source: tatoeba (1487712)
Tom is now straightening up his room.
Source: tatoeba (3447011)
Showing 4 of 11 available sentences.
Closest matches include address, align, aligning, alignment, alinement.
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.