different between unravel vs decode

English

Etymology

From un- +? ravel. Compare Dutch ontrafelen (“to unravel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n??æv?l/

• Rhymes: -æv?l

Verb

unravel (third-person singular simple present unravels, present participle unravelling or (US) unraveling, simple past and past participle unravelled or (US) unraveled)

1. (transitive) To separate the threads (of); disentangle.

   Synonyms: disentangle, unsnarl

2. (intransitive, of threads etc.) To become separated; (of something woven, knitted, etc.) to come apart.
   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, London: C. & J. Ollier, Act II, Scene 1, p. 63,^[1]

     […] the burning threads

     Of woven cloud unravel in pale air:

   • 2015, Lesley Nneka Arimah, “Who Will Greet You at Home,” The New Yorker, 26 October, 2015,^[2]

     The yarn baby lasted a good month […] before Ogechi snagged its thigh on a nail and it unravelled as she continued walking […]

3. (transitive, figuratively) To clear from complication or difficulty; to unfold; to solve.

   Synonyms: solve, unriddle

   • 1683, John Dryden, “Life of Plutarch” in Plutarchs Lives, Volume 1, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 9,^[3]

     […] he disputed best, and unravell’d the difficulties of Philosophy with most success when he was at Supper, and well warm’d with Wine.

   • 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, Chapter 5,^[4]

     I left Holmes seated in front of the smouldering fire, and long into the watches of the night I heard the low, melancholy wailings of his violin, and knew that he was still pondering over the strange problem which he had set himself to unravel.
4. (transitive, figuratively) To separate the connected or united parts of; to throw into disorder; to confuse.
   • 1679, John Dryden, Oedipus

     Art shall be conjured for it, and nature all unravelled.
5. (intransitive, figuratively) To become undone; to collapse.
   • 2010, Ian Cowie, "State pension Ponzi scheme unravels with retirement at 70", The Telegraph, June 24th, 2010,

     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.

Usage notes

The spellings unraveling and unraveled are primarily US while unravelling and unravelled are primarily UK, other Commonwealth countries, and Ireland.

Derived terms

• unrevelling

Translations

Anagrams

• venular, vulnera

English

Etymology

de- +? code

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??k??d/, /di??k??d/
• Rhymes: -??d

Verb

decode (third-person singular simple present decodes, present participle decoding, simple past and past participle decoded)

1. To convert from an encrypted form to plain text.

   The cryptographer decoded the secret message and sent the result to the officer.

2. To figure out something difficult to interpret.

   I finally managed to decode the nearly illegible doctor's prescription.

Synonyms

• decipher

Antonyms

• encode

Derived terms

• decoder
• codec

Translations

Noun

decode (plural decodes)

1. (cryptography) A product of decoding
   • 2004, David Cesarani, Holocaust: Responses to the Persecution and Mass Murder of the Jews, page 148

     If and when the remaining Allied intercepts and decodes are opened up, we may expect to learn a great deal more about the later stages of the Holocaust.

   • 2005, Richard Breitman, U.S. Intelligence And The Nazis, page 31

     The British picked up a decode in November 1942 indicating that guards at Auschwitz would need six hundred gas masks.

   • 2006, Ian Pfennigwerth, A Man of Intelligence, page 223

     Decodes stating that Hollandia airfields were becoming overcrowded with IJA aircraft waiting to stage forward to Wewak led to pre-emptive strikes by Allied air forces and the destruction of more than 300 Japanese aircraft on the ground.

   • 2011, Hervie Haufler, Codebreakers' Victory, page 192

     He was sure that references to AK in the intercepts stood for Midway, but none of the decodes made the identification certain.

2. (computing) Output from a program or device used to interpret communication protocols
   • 1999 Laura Wonnacott, "Sniffer Pro sees some switches", Info World, page 37

     This version includes more than 400 decodes that cover everything from legacy decodes to popular decodes and new or updated decodes for such protocols as voice over IP H.323, Server Message Block, Border Gateway Protocol Version 4, and Internet Inter-ORB Protocol