Meaning & use
coming undone
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“coming undone” is a form of “come undone”.
Meanings
phraseidiom
Becoming loose, untied or unfastened without anyone meaning it to happen.
Grammar: Follows a subject and has no object: her laces are coming undone.
Patterns
- something is coming undone
Your shoelace is coming undone.
The ribbon kept coming undone in her hair.
The knot on the rope was slowly coming undone.
phraseidiomfigurative
Failing or falling apart, as a plan, a person's composure or a situation breaks down.
Grammar: Used figuratively with a subject such as plan, career or team.
Patterns
- someone is coming undone
- something is coming undone
The company's whole strategy was coming undone.
He felt himself coming undone under the pressure.
Their friendship was slowly coming undone after the argument.
Word forms
| base form | come undone |
|---|---|
| third person singular | comes undone |
| past tense | came undone |
| past participle | come undone |
| -ing form | coming undone |
Common combinations
- start coming undone
- The plan started coming undone within a week.
- slowly coming undone
- The sweater was slowly coming undone at the cuff.
- seem to be coming undone
- The whole project seems to be coming undone.
- keep coming undone
- My laces keep coming undone.
- feel yourself coming undone
- She felt herself coming undone during the interview.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unraveling
- Unraveling suggests a gradual falling apart of threads or plans, while coming undone can be sudden or gradual.
- falling apart
- Falling apart is more casual and stronger, suggesting complete collapse.
- coming loose
- Coming loose is used only for physical things, while coming undone can also describe plans and people.
- breaking down
- Breaking down is usually used for machines, systems or emotional collapse and does not suggest loosening.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: coming undone or undone?
coming undone vs undone
Undone alone can mean untied or unfinished. Coming undone describes the process of becoming untied or failing.
Practice
Which sentence uses coming undone in a figurative way?
Choose one answer.
An alibi is not a physical thing, so coming undone means it is failing. The other sentences describe something literally loosening.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “coming undone”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.