Unscrambled

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. To resolve a jumbled arrangement into its original order
2. To clarify or tidy up a mixed-up situation or information
3. To decode the meaning or arrangement of something that has been confused or distorted

Etymology: "Unscrambled" is the past tense and past participle of "unscramble," so its history is that of the verb, which is simply the prefix "un-" joined to "scramble." The "un-" comes from Old English "on-" and the Germanic "anda-" meaning "against" or "back," which in English became a reversing prefix: to undo, to reverse. "Scramble" is the older word, so "unscramble" means to reverse a scrambling, to restore what had been jumbled or mixed up into its proper order. The adjective sense, "sorted into order," follows directly from that reversal. Something that was scrambled, whether a message, a signal or a set of letters, is made intelligible again once it has been unscrambled. The word therefore describes a state achieved by undoing a disorder rather than a disorder itself.

Synonyms: decoded, unmixed, sorted

Antonyms: scrambled, mixed, confused