Unravel vs Dissolve - What's the difference?
unravel | dissolve |
to separate the threads (of); disentangle
to become undone; to collapse
* 2010 , Ian Cowie,
*:The great Ponzi scheme that lies behind our State pension is unravelling – as they all do eventually – because money being taken from new investors is insufficient to honour promises issued to earlier generations.
(figurative) To clear from complication or difficulty; to unfold; to solve.
(figurative) To separate the connected or united parts of; to throw into disorder; to confuse.
* Dryden
To terminate a union of multiple members actively, as by disbanding
To destroy, make disappear
To liquify, melt into a fluid
* Shakespeare
To be melted, changed into a fluid
(chemistry) To disintegrate chemically into a solution by immersion into a liquid or gas.
(chemistry) To be disintegrated by such immersion.
To disperse, drive apart a group of persons.
* Shakespeare
To break the continuity of; to disconnect; to loosen; to undo; to separate.
* Fairfax
* The Declaration of Independence
(legal) To annul; to rescind; to discharge or release.
(cinematography) To shift from one shot to another by having the former fade out as the latter fades in.
To resolve itself as by dissolution
(obsolete) To solve; to clear up; to resolve.
* Tennyson
* Bible, Daniel v. 16
To relax by pleasure; to make powerless.
* Dryden
(cinematography) A film punctuation in which there is a gradual transition from one scene to the next.
In intransitive terms the difference between unravel and dissolve
is that unravel is to become undone; to collapse while dissolve is to resolve itself as by dissolution.As verbs the difference between unravel and dissolve
is that unravel is to separate the threads (of); disentangle while dissolve is to terminate a union of multiple members actively, as by disbanding.As a noun dissolve is
a film punctuation in which there is a gradual transition from one scene to the next.unravel
English
Verb
- Stop playing with the seam of the tablecloth! You will unravel it.
- Mother couldn't unravel the ball of wool after the cat had played with it.
"State pension Ponzi scheme unravels with retirement at 70", The Telegraph , June 24th, 2010,
- New Ponzi Scheme Unravels !
- to unravel a plot
- to unravel a mystery
- to unravel the confusion
- Art shall be conjured for it, and nature all unravelled .
- ''to unravel the global compromise achieved in the Constitutional Treaty
- ''to unravel the broad consensus which was created
Usage notes
unraveling and unraveled are primarily US while unravelling and unravelled are primarily UK.Synonyms
* unriddle * solve * unsnarl * disentangleDerived terms
* unravellingAnagrams
* English ergative verbsdissolve
English
(dissolution)Verb
(dissolv)- ''The ruling party or coalition sometimes dissolves parliament early when the polls are favorable, hoping to reconvene with a larger majority
- as if the world were all dissolved to tears
- Nothing can dissolve us.
- Down fell the duke, his joints dissolved asunder.
- For one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.
- to dissolve an injunction
- dissolved the mystery
- Make interpretations and dissolve doubts.
- Angels dissolved in hallelujahs lie.
