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Glite Dictionary
🤝 To solve issues 🧺 To smooth fabric
to iron out

to iron out

1 3.1
Press and smooth clothes with a hot metal tool to remove wrinkles
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈaɪərn aʊt/
translation icon : planchar
  • It is best to iron out wrinkles, build trust, and grow into your new regimen privately.
  • iron out the wrinkles

Examples

  • Pressing hard, squeezing the tar out of it, ironing out the humps and wrinkles, squeezing, pressing, setting it straight.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • I think you're doing awesome, and I'm really glad you're out there saying stuff for those of us who can't quite iron out the bitter irony that overshadows our words.

    Blog text (32)

  • So nice try trying to iron out the wrinkles, Michael.

    Blog text (4)

  • What genius disabled the current website before ironing out the bugs for the new one?

    Blog text (24)

  • Love irons out lots of wrinkles.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • And every crease you're going to see me make today on this plane, I am going to really iron out with this folding tool.

  • Before wearing that shirt, make sure to iron out the wrinkles for a neat appearance.

  • She decided to iron out the wrinkles in her dress before the formal event.

  • He always irons out his clothes to avoid looking untidy.

Synonyms

to press
vsto iron out
534 1.0

Use force on something with your hand or a tool to flatten it

adds heat and targets clothing wrinkles rather than general force
to iron
vsto iron out
72 1.0

To press clothes with a hot metal tool to remove wrinkles

is the same action but in a longer phrase
to unwrinkle
vsto iron out
3.3

To make fabric smooth by removing folds

uses heat and a flat heated tool specifically to remove wrinkles

How Smooth

to iron out
1 3.1
to press
534 1.0

Surface Forms

iron out infinitive
ironed out past
ironed out past participle
ironing out present participle
irons out third person singular

Morphology

iron + out

The sense 'to press and smooth cloth to remove wrinkles' is directly built from the verb 'iron' (to press with a heated iron) plus the particle 'out' signalling removal or completion, so the overall meaning is compositional. This verb + particle pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Iron out simply means to use an iron to smooth out clothes; by pressing a hot iron over a wrinkle the fabric becomes flat and neat. So, to iron out clothes means 'to remove the wrinkles'.