undo
See also: -undo
English
Pronunciation
- (US, UK)[1] IPA(key): /ʌnˈduː/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -uː
- Homophone: undue (yod-dropping)
Etymology 1
From Middle English undōn, from Old English ondōn, from Proto-West Germanic *andadōn (“to undo”), equivalent to un- + do. Cognate with West Frisian ûndwaan, ûntdwaan (“to undo; rid”), Dutch ontdoen (“to undo”).
Verb
undo (third-person singular simple present undoes, present participle undoing, simple past undid, past participle undone) (transitive)
- To reverse the effects of an action.
- Fortunately, we can undo most of the damage to the system by the war.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 4:
- Pro. […] it was a torment / To lay vpon the damn'd, which Sycorax / Could not againe vndoe ; it was mine Art, / When I arriu'd, and heard thee, that made gape / The Pyne, and let thee out.
- 2011 October 15, Michael Da Silva, “Wigan 1 - 3 Bolton”, in BBC Sport[1]:
- But Wigan undid their good work by conceding an avoidable second goal deep into first-half injury time.
- 2019 April 6, Caleb Quinley, “Thailand: Anti-military party leader faces sedition charges”, in Al Jazeera[2], Doha: Al Jazeera, retrieved 6 April 2019:
- And judging by how well the progressive and youth-favoured party did, many observers suspect this latest round of legal charges are a response to Future Forward's commitment to undo the legacy of military rule and undertake democratic reforms.
- To unfasten.
- Could you undo my buckle for me?
- (figuratively) To impoverish or ruin, as in reputation; to cause the downfall of.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:
- Woe is me, for I am undone!
Synonyms
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of “reverse effects”): redo
- (antonym(s) of “unfasten”): do up, button, button up, tie up, zip, zip up,
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Welsh: andwyo
Translations
to reverse
|
to unfasten
|
Noun
undo (plural undos)
- (computing) An operation that reverses a previous action.
- How many undos does this program support?
Translations
an operation that reverses a previous action
|
Etymology 2
Adjective
undo
- Misspelling of undue.
Further reading
References
- ^ “undo”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
From unda (“a wave”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈʊn.doː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈun̪.d̪o]
Verb
undō (present infinitive undāre, perfect active undāvī, supine undātum); first conjugation
Conjugation
Conjugation of undō (first conjugation)
Derived terms
Descendants
- Aromanian: undedz, undari
- → English: undate
- Italian: ondare
- Portuguese: undar
- Romanian: unda, undare
- Spanish: ondear
References
- “undo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “undo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- undo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
- a thing finds credence, is credible: aliquid fidem habet (vid. also fides under sect. VII., History)
- a thing finds credence, is credible: aliquid fidem habet (vid. also fides under sect. VII., History)
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “redound”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
Lindu
Noun
undo
Old English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈunˌdoː/
Verb
undō
- inflection of undōn:
- first-person singular present indicative
- singular present subjunctive
- singular imperative