Library / English Dictionary

UNBEND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: unbent   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Release from mental strain, tension, or formality

Example:

unbend the mind from absorbing too much information

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "unbend" is one way to...):

loosen up; make relaxed; relax; unlax; unstrain; unwind (cause to feel relaxed)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become less tense, rest, or take one's ease

Example:

Let's all relax after a hard day's work

Synonyms:

decompress; loosen up; relax; slow down; unbend; unwind

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "unbend" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "unbend"):

vege out; vegetate (engage in passive relaxation)

sit back; take it easy (settle into a comfortable sitting position)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody's (body part) ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue unbend

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make less taut

Example:

relax the tension on the rope

Synonyms:

relax; unbend

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "unbend" is one way to...):

loose; loosen (make loose or looser)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "unbend"):

unbrace (remove from tension)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Free from flexure

Example:

unbend a bow

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "unbend" is one way to...):

straighten; straighten out (make straight)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

bend (cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Unfasten, as a sail, from a spar or a stay

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "unbend" is one way to...):

unfasten (cause to become undone)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Straighten up or out; make straight

Synonyms:

straighten; unbend

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "unbend" is one way to...):

change posture (undergo a change in bodily posture)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

The belief of being prudent, and self-denying, principally for his advantage, was her chief consolation, under the misery of a parting, a final parting; and every consolation was required, for she had to encounter all the additional pain of opinions, on his side, totally unconvinced and unbending, and of his feeling himself ill used by so forced a relinquishment.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I never saw my aunt unbend more systematically to anyone.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There was an inflexibility in her face, in her voice, in her gait and carriage, amply sufficient to account for the effect she had made upon a gentle creature like my mother; but her features were rather handsome than otherwise, though unbending and austere.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)