ravel

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: rav=el

CIDE DICTIONARY

ravel, v. t. [OD. ravelen, D. rafelen, akin to LG. rebeln, rebbeln, reffeln.].

•  To separate or undo the texture of; to unravel; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out; as, to ravel a twist; to ravel out a stocking.  [1913 Webster]

  "Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleave of care."  [1913 Webster]
•  To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle.  [1913 Webster]
•  To pull apart, as the threads of a texture, and let them fall into a tangled mass; hence, to entangle; to make intricate; to involve.  [1913 Webster]

  "What glory's due to him that could divide
  Such raveled interests? has the knot untied?"  [1913 Webster]

  "The faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is so often untwisted by violence, or raveled and entangled in weak discourses!"  [1913 Webster]

ravel, v. i. 

•  To become untwisted or unwoven; to be disentangled; to be relieved of intricacy.  [1913 Webster]
•  To fall into perplexity and confusion.  [1913 Webster]

  "Till, by their own perplexities involved,
  They ravel more, still less resolved."  [1913 Webster]
•  To make investigation or search, as by picking out the threads of a woven pattern.  [1913 Webster]

  "The humor of raveling into all these mystical or entangled matters."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

ravel, v. & n.
--v. (ravelled, ravelling; US raveled, raveling)
1 tr. & intr. entangle or become entangled or knotted.
2 tr. confuse or complicate (a question or problem).
3 intr. fray out.
4 tr. (often foll. by out) disentangle, unravel, distinguish the separate threads or subdivisions of.
--n.
1 a tangle or knot.
2 a complication.
3 a frayed or loose end.

Etymology

prob. f. Du. ravelen tangle, fray out, unweave

THESAURUS

ravel

Chinese puzzle, Gordian knot, Rube Goldberg contraption, answer, ball up, bottom, can of worms, clarify, clear up, complex, complicate, confound, confuse, crack, debug, decipher, decode, disembroil, disentangle, disintricate, disinvolve, divine, do, dope, dope out, embrangle, entangle, explain, fathom, figure out, find out, find the answer, find the solution, foul up, get, get right, guess, guess right, have it, hit it, implicate, interpret, involve, jungle, knot, labyrinth, louse up, make out, maze, meander, mesh, mess, mess up, mix up, muck, muck up, muddle, open the lock, perplex, plumb, psych, psych out, puzzle out, ramify, ravel out, resolve, riddle, screw up, snafu, snake pit, snarl, snarl up, solve, sort out, tangle, tangled skein, unbraid, unclutter, uncoil, undo, unknot, unlock, unmix, unravel, unriddle, unscramble, unsnarl, untangle, unthread, untwine, untwist, unweave, unwind, webwork, wheels within wheels, wilderness, work, work out

ROGET THESAURUS

ravel

Disorder

VB be disorderly, ferment, play at cross-purposes, put out of order, derange, ravel, ruffle, rumple.

Arrangement

VB reduce to order, bring into order, introduce order into, rally, arrange, dispose, place, form, put in order, set in order, place in order, set out, collocate, pack, marshal, range, size, rank, group, parcel out, allot, distribute, deal, cast the parts, assign the parts, dispose of, assign places to, assort, sort, sift, riddle, put to rights, set to rights, put into shape, put in trim, put in array, apportion, class, classify, divide, file, string together, thread, register, catalogue, tabulate, index, graduate, digest, grade, methodize, regulate, systematize, coordinate, organize, settle, fix, unravel, disentangle, ravel, card, disembroil, feaze.

Derangement

VB derange, disarrange, misarrange, displace, misplace, mislay, discompose, disorder, deorganize, discombobulate, disorganize, embroil, unsettle, disturb, confuse, trouble, perturb, jumble, tumble, shuffle, randomize, huddle, muddle, toss, hustle, fumble, riot, bring into disorder, put into disorder, throw into disorder, muss, break the ranks, disconcert, convulse, break in upon, unhinge, dislocate, put out of joint, throw out of gear, turn topsy-turvy, bedevil, complicate, involve, perplex, confound, imbrangle, embrangle, tangle, entangle, ravel, tousle, towzle, dishevel, ruffle, rumple, litter, scatter, mix, rearrange.

Difficulty

VB be difficult, run one hard, go against the grain, try one's patience, put one out, put to one's shifts, put to one's wit's end, go hard with one, try one, pose, perplex, bother, nonplus, gravel, bring to a deadlock, be impossible, be in the way of, meet with difficulties, labor under difficulties, get into difficulties, plunge into difficulties, struggle with difficulties, contend with difficulties, grapple with difficulties, labor under a disadvantage, be in difficulty, fish in troubled waters, buffet the waves, swim against the stream, scud under bare poles, Have much ado with, have a hard time of it, come to the push, come to the pinch, bear the brunt, grope in the dark, lose one's way, weave a tangled web, walk among eggs, get into a scrape, bring a hornet's nest about one's ears, be put to one's shifts, flounder, boggle, struggle, not know which way to turn, perdre son Latin, stick at, stick in the mud, stick fast, come to a stand, come to a standstill, come to a deadlock, hold the wolf by the ears, hold the tiger by the tail, render difficult, enmesh, encumber, embarrass, ravel, entangle, put a spoke in the wheel, lead a pretty dance.

Crossing

VB cross, decussate, intersect, interlace, intertwine, intertwist, interweave, interdigitate, interlink, twine, entwine, weave, inweave, twist, wreathe, anastomose, inosculate, dovetail, splice, link, lace, tat, mat, plait, plat, braid, felt, twill, tangle, entangle, ravel, net, knot, dishevel, raddle.