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Glite Dictionary
↩️ To reverse 💥 To ruin 🪢 To unfasten
to undo

to undo

22 5.4
Destroy the success of a person or thing
  • verb
  • /ʌnˈdu/
: arruinar
  • Ulster Unionists saw Home Rule as a conspiracy, a conspiracy to undo the Ulster plantation - and that was something which could not be allowed.
  • tried to undo
  • threatens to undo
  • attempt to undo

The special affairs staff was the component of the CIA who had been trying to kill Castro and UN basically undo his regime for years.

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Examples

  • I mean to undo the flaws in my character.

    The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

  • Do not open this door or you will undo everything I've worked for.

    This Means War (2012)

  • The first phase is undo the damage of the last four years.

  • Toward the end of his life, a man seeks to undo the damage he has caused.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Killing this one individual might well prevent the war and undo the whole course of disasters that followed.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • In most former communist countries, the collapse of the system did not undo the lives of party officials.

    Academic text (2008)

  • And when something shows up that threatens to undo all of those things, well then it's really easy to avoid it.

  • White conservatives had led "the most comprehensive effort to undo Reconstruction" in the South.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Gingrich promised to undo the legacy of the 1960s by eliminating the Great Society programs.

    Academic text (1994)

  • The scandal threatened to undo the politician's career completely.

Synonyms

to ruin
vsto undo
∞ 2.0

Destroy or badly damage something so it cannot be used

targets causing a downfall of a person or thing
to unmake
vsto undo
5 7.5

To undo or destroy something created earlier

aims to cause a downfall rather than simply reverse a creation

Antonyms

to support
∞ 1.0

Give help to a person or idea

to build up
207 3.0

Increase slowly over time

How Damaging

to destroy
∞ 1.0
to undo
22 5.4
to ruin
∞ 2.0
to damage
885 1.4
to harm
738 1.0

Surface Forms

undo infinitive
undoing present participle
undoes third person singular
undid past
undone past participle

Morphology

undo = do (semi-transparent) = un + do

The form is 'un-' + 'do', but the meaning 'to ruin or cause downfall' is a figurative/extensions from 'undo' and not a straightforward negative reversal for learners.

Etymology

Undo also once had a stronger sense: un- ('not') plus do could mean 'make not done' or destroy. So to be undone can mean to be ruined or brought down by something like a serious mistake.