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Glite Dictionary
🧵 To remove stitches 🔍 To analyze closely
to unpick

to unpick

1 6.6
To study a difficult problem carefully to understand or solve it
  • verb
  • /ʌnˈpɪk/
translation icon : analizar
  • The analyst will unpick the complex data to reveal hidden trends.

Because then you can start to unpick some of these highly restrictive diets.

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Examples

  • And I'd like to think there's some more levels to my story that I will unpick and ways in which I share it that, you know, maybe through a podcast that have yet to happen.

    True Geordie

  • And those kind of mysteries are always the most satisfying to unpick.

    Enola Holmes (2020)

  • And I think it's time we started to unpick it and say no.

  • And when you unpick some of that, again, you end up right back at your standards.

  • And I think as the left, we need to do quite a lot of work to kind of unpick that assumption.

  • Well, I had to figure out a way to unpick, unpack, explain to the general audience.

  • You're gonna have to unpick all this and start again.

    Kinky Boots (2005)

  • Because then you can start to unpick some of these highly restrictive diets.

    High Performance

  • I'm relieved to read someone trying to unpick the dreadful mess the climate problem has descended into.

    Blog text (18)

  • And So what we are doing, it's not just at UKA, all around the world, what companies and organisations are doing is we're unpicking this challenge.

Synonyms

to analyze
vsto unpick
  • US
675 3.2

To study something carefully to understand it better

is specifically aimed at understanding or solving a complex whole
to unravel
vsto unpick
75 4.4

To find out what really happened in a confusing situation

emphasizes careful analytical examination rather than simple loosening
to dissect
vsto unpick
43 5.5

To study something closely by breaking it into parts, for example a text or idea

is more about careful step by step analysis for understanding or solving
to pick apart
vsto unpick
  • Informal
14 5.2

To find faults in ideas or work by pointing out small problems

is focused on understanding or solving rather than finding faults
to unravel the mystery
vsto unpick
8 5.2

To make a difficult or confusing problem clear

is more general and applies to analyzing various complex things not only puzzles
to take apart
vsto unpick
7 3.4

To study a text or idea by looking at its parts

is focused on careful analysis to understand or solve the whole
to unpack someone's thoughts
vsto unpick
6.1

To think about and explain your ideas clearly to yourself or others

is broader, not limited to personal ideas or inner reasoning

Antonyms

to assemble
169 2.9

To put parts together to make something like a machine or toy

to synthesize
55 6.4

To combine ideas or materials to make something new

How Thoroughly

to dissect
43 5.5
to analyze
  • US
675 3.2
to unpick
1 6.6
to examine
868 2.5
to look into
573 2.8

Surface Forms

unpick infinitive
unpicked past
unpicked past participle
unpicking present participle
unpicks third person singular

Morphology

unpick = pick (transparent) = un + pick

The metaphorical sense 'take apart to understand' is a straightforward extension of reversing or removing parts, built by prefixing 'un-' to 'pick'.

Etymology

Unpick uses un- ('undo') and pick ('pull out'), so a helpful image is pulling stitches out of an idea. That's why to unpick an argument or problem is to take it apart carefully to understand or solve it.