Wiktionary:Word of the day/2021/December 28

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ravel v

(transitive) To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle. (also figuratively) Often followed by up: to form (something) out of discrete elements, like weaving fabric from threads; to knit. 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. (figuratively) To confuse or perplex (someone or something). (archaic) Often followed by out: to undo the intricacies of (a problem, etc.); to clarify, to disentangle. (obsolete) To destroy or ruin (something), like unravelling fabric. (programming) In the APL programming language: to reshape (a variable) into a vector. (intransitive) 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. (also figuratively) Often followed by out: of clothing, fabric, etc.: to become unwoven; to fray, to unravel. (archaic or obsolete) To become entangled or snarled. ravel n (chiefly literary or Scotland) A tangled mess; an entanglement, a snarl, a tangle. (figuratively) A confusing, intricate, or perplexing situation; a complication. (also figuratively) A thread which has unravelled from fabric, etc.; also, a situation of fabric, etc., coming apart; an unravelling. The French composer, conductor, and pianist Maurice Ravel, whose music was associated with impressionism (though he rejected this label), died on this day in 1937.

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