Hemant
What is the difference between untie, unfasten, unbind, undo and unhitch.
Oct 17, 2018 12:00 AM
Answers · 4
2
For most of these words the key thing to pay attention to is the root word which indicates the item involved. Untie is only for things you tie together, like string or rope. Unbuckle involves buckles (like on belts). Unhitch involves hitches, like you have on the back of trucks for trailers. Unfasten is generally for certain things that you tighten for safety (fasten is a verb for tightening ropes and such, or making sure it "holds fast"), like seat belts, maybe climbing ropes... Unbind isn't used that much, but is very like untie. "Binding" things together sounds less deliberate and more messy, as it can happen by accident. Something in a mess of tangled wire could be said to be "bound up." It can also be used in talk about molecular chemistry, atoms are "bound together" in molecules. For me, it makes me think of magic spells in fairy tales. "Binding spells" that trap things together or in a certain area. Undo can be used in reference to most all actions. Anything that can be done can be undone. "Un-" reverses or negates the action in question. If you tie something and want it not to be tied anymore you "untie" it. Hope that makes sense, phew, it's actually surprisingly hard to talk about without using the words or prefixes themselves!
October 17, 2018
Dawson and Carly have explained it very well, there is no need to try to rephrase, it differently. Fasten is used to describe things held firm to an anchor point. to prevent movement. Thats how we get the notion of fastening animals to "tethers" = a post in the ground. And people to seats in modern transport cars, boats, planes, space rockets etc. and finally cargo to the platforms on truck/tractors/lorries; via tether points on/in the transport vehicle. 1) camera tethered to a computer https://petapixel.com/2017/07/31/shooting-tethered-pays-off-guide-photographers/ 2)people tethered to a point on a boat for safety https://www.pbo.co.uk/seamanship/is-it-safe-to-use-a-tether-25125 3)a dog tethered to a post in the ground https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wH7fVQ9adc the original meaning for tether was tethering animals to a secure point cows, horses goats to allow grazing and some movement, to fasten originally meant to tie securely in a manner that the animals could not escape from their tethers. Fasten has now evolved to include all this. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fasten
October 17, 2018
I'll try, but not 100% sure [emoji] undo is un (to reverse) + do (something that has been done) = "to reverse what has been done", "to reverse an action". untie = to release from a knot (like neckties) unfasten = to release from anything locked in by & mechanism (like belts) unbind = to release anything that have been held together by wrapping (like hands wrapped with rope) unhitch = to release things that are hooked or caught onto each other (like thumbs "hitched" from front pockets of pants) Examples: I can't *undo my mistake. Can you *untie your own shoes? Do not *unfasten your safety belts during the rollercoaster ride! Please *unbind these old bandages wrapped around my arm so I can replace them with clean ones. The officer finally *unhitched the man's car from his tow truck. You can probably replace untie, unfasten, unbind, and unhitch with undo and it will still kinda make sense. But I think not the other way around.
October 17, 2018
I'll try, but not 100% sure [emoji] undo is un (to reverse) + do (something that has been done) = "to reverse what has been done", "to reverse an action". untie = to release from a knot (like neckties) unfasten = to release from anything locked in by & mechanism (like belts) unbind = to release anything that have been held together by wrapping (like hands wrapped with rope) unhitch = to release things that are hooked or caught onto each other (like thumbs "hitched" from front pockets of pants) Examples: I can't *undo my mistake. Can you *untie your own shoes? Do not *unfasten your safety belts during the rollercoaster ride! Please *unbind these old bandages wrapped around my arm so I can replace them with clean ones. The officer finally *unhitched the man's car from his tow truck. You can probably replace untie, unfasten, unbind, and unhitch with undo and it will still kinda make sense. But I think not the other way around.
October 17, 2018
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