different between wrinkle vs unwrinkle

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /????kl?/
• Rhymes: -??k?l
• Hyphenation: wrink?le

Etymology 1

Probably from stem of Old English gewrinclod.

Alternative forms

• wrincle (obsolete)

Noun

wrinkle (plural wrinkles)

1. A small furrow, ridge or crease in an otherwise smooth surface.
2. A line or crease in the skin, especially when caused by age or fatigue.

3. A fault, imperfection or bug especially in a new system or product; typically, they will need to be ironed out.

4. A twist on something existing; a novel difference.

Translations

Verb

wrinkle (third-person singular simple present wrinkles, present participle wrinkling, simple past and past participle wrinkled)

1. (transitive) To make wrinkles in; to cause to have wrinkles.
2. (intransitive) To pucker or become uneven or irregular.

3. (intransitive, of skin) To develop irreversibly wrinkles; to age.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To sneer (at).
   • 1604, John Marston, Parasitaster, or The Fawn

     Ther's some weakenes in your brother you wrinkle at

Related terms

• unwrinkled
• wrinkle-free
• wrinkly

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

wrinkle (plural wrinkles)

1. (US, dialect) A winkle

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “wrinkle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Winkler

English

Etymology

un- +? wrinkle

Verb

unwrinkle (third-person singular simple present unwrinkles, present participle unwrinkling, simple past and past participle unwrinkled)

1. (transitive) To remove wrinkles from.
   • 1935, Elizabeth Bowen, The House in Paris, New York: Vintage, 1957, Part Two, p. 140,^[1]

     He and she sat side by side like two wax people while the waiter stretched across to unwrinkle the tablecloth and straighten the knives.

   • 2000, Gary Soto, Nickel and Dime, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, Part 2, p. 85,^[2]

     The job was done before Silver could unwrinkle the grimace on his face.

2. (intransitive) To stop being wrinkly; to become flat or smooth.
   • 1959, Mervyn Peake, Titus Alone, New York: Ballantine, 1968, Chapter 66, p. 179,^[3]

     His head protruded out of his torn collar much as the head of the tortoise protrudes from its shell, the throat unwrinkling, the eyes like beads, or pips of jet.

   • 1987, Derek Walcott, “Cul de Sac Valley” in The Arkansas Testament, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, p. 11,^[4]

     In a rain barrel, water

     unwrinkles to glass;

     a lime tree’s daughter

     there studies her face.

   • 1996, Charles Mathes, The Girl Who Remembered Snow, New York: St. Martin’s Press, Chapter 15, p. 212,^[5]

     Emma went through the closet and removed the black gabardine jacket she had hung up to unwrinkle.

Translations

Synonyms

• (remove wrinkles from): flatten out, smooth