Meaning of unfold | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To release from a fold or pen.
   transitive
2. To undo a folding.
   transitive
3. To open and spread out (something folded); extend.
4. To become unfolded.
   intransitive
5. To remove the coverings from; disclose to view: unfold a package.
6. To turn out; to happen; to develop.
   intransitive
7. To lay open to view or contemplation; to bring out in all the details, or by successive development; to reveal.
   transitive
8. To reveal gradually by written or spoken explanation; make known: "He unfolded his tale of woe: the descriptions of poverty and the great distance they had traveled, the abuses they had suffered, the injustice of it all" (Robert Rosenberg).
9. To reassemble a line of text that was split across multiple lines.
   transitive
10. To become spread out; open out: Spring flowers unfolded everywhere.
11. To be revealed gradually to the understanding: A solution to the problem unfolded as they spoke.
12. to open or spread out or be opened or spread out from a folded state
13. to reveal or be revealed: the truth unfolds.
14. to develop or expand or be developed or expanded
15. to bring out of a folded state; spread or open out.
16. to spread out or lay open to view.

Equivalents

Examples

“to unfold a map; to unfold a tablecloth; She unpacks the new dress and unfolds it carefully.”

“Unfold thy forehead gathered into frowns.”

“Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.”

“The curtains unfolded to reveal the stage.”

“Events unfolded in an unexpected way.”

“Memento unfolds over 22 scenes—or, more accurately, 22 strands of time, the main strand (in color) moving backward in increments, and another strand (in black and white) going forward, though the two overlap profoundly.”

“The protests in Brazil are unfolding just as its long and heralded economic boom may be coming to an end.”

“to unfold one's designs; to unfold the principles of a science”

“Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold.”

“Unfold the passion of my love.”

“to unfold sheep”

CEFR level