different between disentangle vs loosen

English

Etymology

dis- +? entangle

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?d?s?n?tæ????]

Verb

disentangle (third-person singular simple present disentangles, present participle disentangling, simple past and past participle disentangled)

1. (transitive) To free something from entanglement; to extricate or unknot.

   I had to disentangle him from his own shoelaces.

2. (transitive) To unravel; to separate into discrete components or units.
3. (intransitive) To become free or untangled.

Synonyms

• untangle

Related terms

• tangle

Translations

English

Etymology

From loose +? -en.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?lu?sn?/

Verb

loosen (third-person singular simple present loosens, present participle loosening, simple past and past participle loosened)

1. (transitive) To make loose.

   Synonyms: ease, relax, untighten

   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 5, p. 111,^[1]

     […] after a yeares Rooting, then Shaking doth the Tree good, by Loosening of the Earth […]

   • 1992, Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient, London: Picador, 1993, Chapter 10, p. 265,^[2]

     His days at the villa had loosened his body and freed his tenseness […]

2. (intransitive) To become loose.
   • 1630, Michael Drayton, “Noahs Floud” in The Muses Elizium Lately Discouered, London: John Waterson, p. 108,^[3]

     The subtile shower the earth hath softned so,

     And with the waues, the trees tost to and fro;

     That the rootes loosen, and the tops downe sway,

     So that whole Forrests quickly swimme away.

   • 1764, Oliver Goldsmith, An History of England, in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son, London: J. Newbery, Volume 2, Letter 19, p. 159,^[4]

     The sea scurvy is attended with an universal putrefaction, the teeth loosen, old wounds that had been healed again open […]

   • 1940, Richard Wright, Native Son, London: Jonathan Cape, 1970, Book 3, p. 387,^[5]

     Max caught Bigger’s shoulders in a tight grip; then his fingers loosened and he sank back to the cot […]

3. (transitive) To disengage (a device that restrains).

   Synonyms: undo, unfasten

   • 1717, Joseph Addison (translator), Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, translated by the most eminent hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Book 3, p. 99,^[6]

     At Liberty th’ unfetter’d Captive stands,

     And flings the loosen’d Shackles from his Hands.

   • 1796, Matthew Gregory Lewis, The Monk, London: J. Bell, Volume 3, Chapter 10, p. 167,^[7]

     He easily comprehended, that the noise which he had heard was occasioned by his having loosened a chain which attached the image to its pedestal.

   • 1994, J. M. Coetzee, The Master of Petersburg, New York: Viking, Chapter 6, p. 55,^[8]

     Her hair is drawn back under a heavy enamelled clasp. He loosens the clasp and lays it on the table.

4. (intransitive) To become unfastened or undone.
   • 1770, Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality, Dublin: for the author, Volume 5, p. 52,^[9]

     Immediately my Shackles loosened and fell away of themselves […]

5. (transitive) To free from restraint; to set at liberty.

   Synonyms: liberate, release, set free

   • 1695, John Dryden (translator), De Arte Graphica by Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, London: W. Rogers, p. 185,^[10]

     This is an admirable Rule; a Painter ought to have it perpetually present in his Mind and Memory. […] it loosens his hands, and assists his understanding.

   • 1794, Ann Ward Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, Volume 1, Chapter 5, p. 145,^[11]

     […] Valancourt, willing to take a more extensive view of the enchanting country, into which they were about to descend, than he could do from a carriage, loosened his dogs, and once more bounded with them along the banks of the road.

   • 1876, George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Book 1, Chapter 8,^[12]

     I thought you had more sense than […] to suppose that because you have fallen into a very common trouble, such as most men have to go through, you are loosened from all bonds of duty […]

   • 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, Book 2, Chapter 11,^[13]

     The recollection loosened a throng of benumbed sensations—longings, regrets, imaginings, the throbbing brood of the only spring her heart had ever known.

6. (transitive) To relieve (the bowels) from constipation; to promote defecation.
   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 1, p. 14,^[14]

     […] Feare looseneth the Belly; because the Heat retiring inwards towards the Heart, the Gutts and other Parts are relaxed;

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: E. Dod, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 73,^[15]

     […] omitting the vehicle of water and honey, which is of a laxative power it selfe, the powder of some Loadstones in this dose doth rather constipate and binde, then purge and loosen the belly.

   • 1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World, London: James Knapton, Volume 1, Chapter 8, p. 222,^[16]

     When this Fruit [the guava] is eaten green it is binding, when ripe it is loosening.

   • 1974, Richard Adams, Shardik, London: Oneworld, 2014, Chapter 36,^[17]

     Trying to control his breathing and the loosening of his bowels, he crouched still lower […]

7. (transitive, obsolete) To create a breach or rift between (two parties).
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V, Scene 1,^[18]

     I had rather lose the battle than that sister

     Should loosen him and me.

8. (intransitive, obsolete) To sail away (from the shore).

   Synonym: put out

   • 1565, Arthur Golding (translator), The Eyght Bookes of Caius Iulius Cæsar conteyning his martiall exploytes in the realme of Gallia and the countries bording vppon the same, London: William Seres, Book 4,^[19]

     […] after the .iiii. day of oure arryuall in Britayne, the eightene shyps that we spake of before, which hadde the horsemen to conuey ouer, loosened from the further hauen with a soft wynd.

Antonyms

• tighten

Derived terms

• loosener
• loosen someone's tongue
• loosen the apron strings
• loosen the purse strings
• loosen up
• reloosen

Related terms

• loose
• unloosen

Translations

See also

• lose

Anagrams

• no-lose