un ‧ rav ‧ el /ʌnˈræv ə l/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle unravelled , present participle unravelling British English , unraveled , unraveling American English )
1 . [transitive] to understand or explain something that is mysterious or complicated:
Detectives are still trying to unravel the mystery surrounding his death.
2 . [intransitive and transitive] if you unravel threads, string etc, or if they unravel, they stop being twisted together
3 . [intransitive] if a system, plan, organization etc unravels, it starts to fail SYN fall apart :
The company started to unravel when two of the directors were arrested.