What's the difference between undo and unpick?

Undo


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To reverse, as what has been done; to annul; to bring to naught.
  • (v. t.) To loose; to open; to take to piece; to unfasten; to untie; hence, to unravel; to solve; as, to undo a knot; to undo a puzzling question; to undo a riddle.
  • (v. t.) To bring to poverty; to impoverish; to ruin, as in reputation, morals, hopes, or the like; as, many are undone by unavoidable losses, but more undo themselves by vices and dissipation, or by indolence.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) We cannot undo the damage it ha€™s done to our air quality,” she said.
  • (2) I am not a Muslim but I see that the cover has been read as yet more provocation, even an undoing of the unity of the marches in Paris and other cities.
  • (3) Amid public outcry over the Bettencourt case, Sarkozy is now likely to be forced into a U-turn before the next election, undoing his tax reforms.
  • (4) His interventions over the next week - first with the miners then with his former army colleagues as hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Belgrade - would prove his ex-master's undoing.
  • (5) He told the chair, Alexis Jay: “We will never be able to undo the wrongdoing to these children.
  • (6) But the role opened my eyes to certain aspects of online gaming, such as harassment, abuse, threats and even stalking, and in many ways, it is an unhappy experience that I wish I could undo.
  • (7) With three weeks left to election day, the onus is on Obama to mount a strong comeback in Tuesday's Long Island debate to undo some of the damage caused by his dismal showing in the first of the presidential debates in Denver a fortnight ago.
  • (8) Obama won praise from world leaders for his promises to undo George Bush's environmental record, but there is growing scepticism abroad that Democrats will be able to overcome opposition in Congress and pass legislation that would put America on a path to cutting its carbon emissions.
  • (9) Arab regional governments – and even Iran – have belatedly seen their own storm clouds of extremism, but there is tremendous work required to undo what has been done.
  • (10) All efforts to undo environmental protections put in place by Obama, he said, would face lengthy and compulsory processes of consultation and review, as well as the strongest possible legal challenges at every turn.
  • (11) President-elect Trump will be able to undo the programs and cast them into the dustbin of history with equal speed and ease.
  • (12) Against the top sides England will leak goals, and that will ultimately be our undoing.
  • (13) He is praised for responding to a chemical attack in Syria with airstrikes, for generally projecting strength in foreign policy, for undoing Obama-era regulations on the environment and business, for installing a conservative supreme court justice, for protecting American jobs, and for not letting people tell him what he can’t do.
  • (14) Now Google might be required to undo the changes – although Auke Haagsma, a lawyer advising the lobby group Icomp , which is critical of Google's policies, said that would be like trying to "unscramble the egg".
  • (15) The projected increase in 2016 would return poverty rates to their 2007 levels, undoing nearly a decade’s worth of gains,” the report stated.
  • (16) Labour cannot afford to undo the coalition's cuts in the next government and must expect to be unpopular, one of the party's most senior finance spokesmen will say on Friday.
  • (17) Jeremy’s main fault was his unfortunate choice of friends – notably Peter Bessell MP, who jointly and foolishly entered into the long-running payoff drama with Scott which was his undoing.
  • (18) It has helped cement Qatar’s international reach and legitimacy, yet ironically has now played a part in its undoing.
  • (19) The former Irish prime minister John Bruton says it would “undo much of the work of the peace process and create huge questions over borders and labour market access”.
  • (20) The author examines how these negative affects, the accompanying victim role, and oppositional defiance enable angry adolescents to defend against depression and loss, to demand nurturance from others, to protect their precarious inner autonomy, and to undo their humiliation and shame by vengeance and reversal.

Unpick


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To pick out; to undo by picking.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) However in a repeat of the current standoff over the federal budget, the conservative wing of the Republican party is threatening to exploit its leverage over raising the debt ceiling to unpick Obama's healthcare reforms.
  • (2) The task of unpicking exactly what type of gap in intelligence that the surveillance-savvy and well-organised bombers were able to slip through will take time, but it holds the key to preventing further Islamic State attacks.
  • (3) Somewhere like Ketchum – mind you, that can get pretty bumpin’ in winter.” We unpicked this slowly.
  • (4) This is not a deal that Walmart can suddenly unpick: it was announced in June and completed recently, approved by Massmart's international investors.
  • (5) The new deal thrashed out in a hurry in the small hours by the three main political parties – now, at last, having a common conversation – insisted on "underpinning" the pantomime horse of charter with a requirement that it could only be unpicked or amended by a two-thirds vote of parliament.
  • (6) When Labour was returned to power in 1997, many of us were optimistic that its virtual three-term majority afforded it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring forth a programme of socially progressive legislation that, if planned carefully, would prove difficult for future right-wing Tory administrations to unpick.
  • (7) The structure of the new ministry took some unpicking - but I assume at this stage that an administrative arrangements order will make sense of which portfolio bits have gone where.
  • (8) Even the House of Lords couldn’t stomach Osborne’s tax credit cuts | Polly Toynbee Read more In the immediate aftermath of the budget Osborne seemed to have pulled off his conjuring trick, but as often with budgets the IFS and others started to unpick the impact of his work.
  • (9) "The contracts are not due to be signed until May [and] anyone looking to sign one should understand that we'll do all we can to legally unpick them if David Cameron enters No 10.
  • (10) There are many flaws in the government case which a determined opposition will unpick between now and the next general election in 2020.
  • (11) Weissmann formerly led the FBI’s fraud unit and the taskforce that unpicked the complex financial dealings of Enron, after the giant energy corporation collapsed in December 2001.
  • (12) As long [ago] as it is, we will get to the bottom of it.” Pressed on whether he believes there was a Westminster-based paedophile ring, as has been alleged, Hogan-Howe said: “I don’t think we know yet.” Investigations into historical allegations contain “so much that’s difficult to unpick”, he added, with “some twists and turns” that are vital to the outcome of the case.
  • (13) Is there the staff and experience available to start unpicking it?” Dougal said cuts at Westminster were already affecting the Scottish fishing community’s relationship both with Defra and the EU.
  • (14) Such a move would, he said, be "part privatisation by stealth" and be impossible to unpick, resulting in a loss of value for taxpayers that ultimately own the organisation.
  • (15) At the frontline, the picture is murkier but richer: there's plenty of data (at least in acute settings) but this is rarely uncontested and often hard to unpick.
  • (16) Mackay warns against trying to unpick the complexities of the language.
  • (17) But the work penalty shows it may at least be possible to begin unpicking their electoral coalition.
  • (18) But it did not take long for the financial markets to unpick the Brussels agreement.
  • (19) Most commentators agree that if the UK votes to leave the EU, it will trigger a huge wave of parliamentary legislation, to unpick our UK laws from those of the EU.
  • (20) But the purpose of such sites is notoriously difficult to unpick.

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