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

Sometime between 1935 and 1944, the road was diverted a stone’s throw to the northeast, straightening out sharp curves and making room for two full lanes of traffic in and out of downtown Jamestown. —Elizabeth Friend, Longreads, 29 Oct. 2024

Samsung started straightening out the Galaxy S series with the S22, and Google’s latest Pixel 9 phones all feature flat edges. —Allison Johnson, The Verge, 18 Oct. 2024

Tonini said witnesses saw the plane begin to straighten out near the roadway while seemingly searching for a place to land. —Keisha Rowe, The Courier-Journal, 11 Oct. 2024

The holds will allow crews to blast and clear rock from the hillsides as part of the I-70 realignment project near Floyd Hill that will replace bridges over Clear Creek and straighten out highway curves to improve traffic flow, officials said. —John Frank, Axios, 1 Oct. 2024