straighten out

phrasal verb

straightened out; straightening out; straightens out

1

: to make (something) straight or to become straight

You need to straighten out your legs for this stretch.

The river curves and then straightens out again.

2

: to make (something) organized or tidy : to put (something) in order

He took time to straighten out the papers on his desk.

3

: to deal with (something) successfully

I need more time to straighten out my problems.

4

: to improve in behavior or condition or to cause (someone or something) to improve in behavior or condition

He straightened out after joining the army.

The problem will not straighten out on its own.

You need to straighten your life out.

Her parents sent her to boarding school to straighten her out.

Examples of straighten out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Woods predicted a putt by Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer in the world, would straighten out at the end. —Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2025

What about the people who use our complaints to get their loans straightened out or their bank accounts unfrozen? —Peter Charalambous, ABC News, 14 Feb. 2025

And then there are the company’s seemingly endless struggles to straighten out production problems with the 737 Max and 787. —Jeremy Bogaisky, Forbes, 27 Jan. 2025

Clips of the footage, which was posted online by BBC, showed the bride making her way into the chapel arm-in-arm with her father and her wedding party straightening out her dress. —Kimberlee Speakman, People.com, 16 Jan. 2025

Rhymes for straighten out

• roundabout
• runabout
• sauerkraut
• thereabout
• turnabout
• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout