unpack
/ʌnˈpæk/ verb
Forms unpacks unpacking unpacked
- verb (transitive) To remove from a package or container, particularly with respect to items that had previously been arranged closely and securely in a pack. “They didn't have time to unpack their bags before going out to dinner.”
- verb (intransitive) To empty containers that had been packed. “They didn't have time to unpack before going to dinner.”
- verb (figurative, transitive) To analyze a concept or a text; to explain.
- verb (linguistics, intransitive, of a segment such as a vowel) To undergo separation of its features into distinct segments.
- verb (computing, transitive) To decompress (data).
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English unpakken, equivalent to un- + pack. Compare Saterland Frisian uutpakje (“to unpack”), West Frisian útpakke (“to unpack”), Dutch uitpakken (“to unpack”), German auspacken (“to unpack”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To separate and remove, as things packed; to open and remove the contents of; as, to unpack a trunk.
- verb To relieve of a pack or burden. [R.] Shak.
Etymology [1st pref. un- + pack.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “unpack”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details