MEANING
1. To separate and examine the parts of a complicated issue in order to understand it.
2. To remove the stitches from sewing so that the joined material comes apart.
3. To gradually undo or remove beneficial changes or achievements that have already been made.
Use it for
examining how a difficult argument fits together; separating the strands of a complex problem; analyzing assumptions one by one; showing careful rather than superficial interpretationProvides a patient, part-by-part analytical verb, with a separate sense for undoing earlier gains. Writing functions: Analysis / Interpretation.
Words that belong together
- unpick an argument
- unpick a complex issue
- unpick the assumptions
On the page
The chapter unpicks the assumptions linking household income to educational aspiration.
Interviews helped the researchers unpick a conflict that the survey had treated as a single attitude.
She unpicked the hem beneath the lamp, saving every usable length of thread.
He had to unpick the seam before the sleeve could be altered.
The new restrictions threatened to unpick years of work on public access.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- unpick
- Past tense
- unpicked
- Past participle
- unpicked
- Present participle
- unpicking
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- unpick
- Present continuous
- am/is/are unpicking
- Present perfect
- have/has unpicked
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been unpicking
- Past
- unpicked
- Past continuous
- was/were unpicking
- Past perfect
- had unpicked
- Past perfect continuous
- had been unpicking
- Future
- will unpick
- Future continuous
- will be unpicking
- Future perfect
- will have unpicked
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been unpicking
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Transitive: unpick, unpicks, unpicked, unpicked, unpicking; future will unpick. The figurative analytical and undoing senses are distinguished from sewing. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common, especially in British English (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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