overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

unwind.

To separate (something that is wound up)

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ʌnˈwaɪnd/
  1. To separate (something that is wound up)

    transitive
    to unwind a ball of yarn
    Could you unwind about a foot of ribbon so I can finish the package?
  2. To disentangle

    obsolete · transitive
  3. To relax; to chill out; to rest and become relieved of stress

    colloquial · intransitive
    After work, I like to unwind by smoking a pipe while reading the paper.
  4. To be or become unwound; to be capable of being unwound or untwisted.

    intransitive
  5. To close out a position, especially a complicated position.

    transitive
  6. To undo something.

    transitive
  7. To navigate back through (a call stack) so as to generate a stack trace etc.

    transitive
  8. Synonym of unroll (“replace a loop with a sequence”).

    transitive
  9. To unravel or explain.

    figuratively · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English unwinden, from Old English unwindan (“to unwind; unwrap”), from Proto-Germanic *andawindaną (“to unwind”); equivalent to un- + wind (“to coil”). Cognate with Dutch ontwinden (“to unwind”).

noun/ʌnˈwaɪnd/
  1. Any mechanism or operation that unwinds something.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English unwinden, from Old English unwindan (“to unwind; unwrap”), from Proto-Germanic *andawindaną (“to unwind”); equivalent to un- + wind (“to coil”). Cognate with Dutch ontwinden (“to unwind”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

unwind has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

unwind studiounwind workshello, unwind

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.