uncurl

Dole eventually learned that he could grip a pen in his right fingers, a technique he used to mask the fact that he couldn’t uncurl them.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2021

Salgado’s hands began to uncurl and I brought markers and scrapbooks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2019

They do have different personalities: some don’t want to uncurl, while others are brave and want to explore.

From The Guardian ● May 10, 2019

Gradually - and very, very cautiously - one of those balls begins to uncurl, revealing two blackcurrant eyes, a long snout, an even longer tail and a soft pink belly.

From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2015

And I saw, in every tiny motion, my fingers uncurl Peach’s fingers.

From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles

The worker uncurls its claw-like fingers, daintily grips the basket by its edges and walks it over to a conveyor that will send it through an industrial washing machine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026

When he makes a fist, then uncurls his fingers, Athena does the same.

From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2021

In a rescue center, the pangolin slowly wakes and uncurls, sniffing out a nighttime feast of ants’ eggs, then lapping it up with its implausibly long tongue.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2018

His brush uncurls a reptilian ripple of paint that twines and insinuates itself into a snakepit of color.

From Time Magazine Archive

She uncurls for one sideways rotation, and lands firmly in a burst of sawdust.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

In a split second, Chauhan uncurled his fingers and accepted it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2020

Compared to other farmers in his area, he said, his corn remains uncurled for longer.

From Salon ● May 10, 2019

In New York, massive banners were uncurled from atop the entrance to the Holland Tunnel declaring “Black Lives Matter” and “Fund Black Futures.”

From Washington Post ● Jul. 22, 2016

The musicians curled and uncurled around Ian Hunter's snarling voice: "Oh is there concrete all around/ Or is it in my head."

From The Guardian ● Feb. 1, 2013

I slowly uncurled, nearly every muscle in my body complaining at how it had been treated yesterday.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Mine involves eye contact, a short smile, a slow uncurling of the fingers, a small raise of the wrist, and a four- to five-second hold.

From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2020

By curling and uncurling their toes, geckos can alternate between sticking and unsticking from a surface, and thus easily move across it.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

Hundreds of police officers clumped on the corners, glancing up at the smoke uncurling in the sky.

From New York Times ● Sep. 19, 2016

Both of us were upon her, coaxing her hands way from her face, uncurling her to reveal wet cheeks.

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 14, 2014

Sohrab took his mom’s hand, gently uncurling her manicured fingers and weaving them with his own.

From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram