unfuck

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ fuck, originally US military slang. For the sense of making a mistake, see fuck up.

Pronunciation

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Verb

unfuck (third-person singular simple present unfucks, present participle unfucking, simple past and past participle unfucked)

1. (slang, vulgar, transitive) To correct or fix (a mistake or problem).
   • 1987, Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, Gustav Hasford, Full Metal Jacket, spoken by Hartman (R. Lee Ermey):

     Now get up! Get on your feet! You had best unfuck yourself or I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck!

   • 2007, Anne Frasier, Garden of Darkness, Onyx, →ISBN, page 19:

     An unemployed, starving artist couldn't turn her back on that kind of money. Not to mention that this could be a chance to unfuck my life.

   • 2017 January 24, Beth Skwarecki, “Unf*ck Your Habitat Got Me to Finally Start Cleaning My House”, in Lifehacker‎^[1]:

     Before long, this habit leads to…well, to the exact situation in my kitchen that took me three 20/10s to unfuck last week.

   • 2023 June 26, Zoe Williams, “Perv-O-Shine and sleep vaping: 23 things I learned about the world – and myself – at Glastonbury 2023”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     All sound ideas, no question, except Unfuck the World was so popular that once people had seen that sticker, they didn’t want the other three. They just wanted to grab the world and unfuck it.

2. (vulgar, transitive) To undo the act of copulation with (a person) or its consequences.
   • 1982, Marge Piercy, Braided Lives, →ISBN, page 269:

     "I won't do it again. I won't! You'll see. I have to prove that. I have to prove it to myself." "You can't unfuck him Donna."

   • 1996, Michael Peterson, A time of War, →ISBN, page 222:

     You can't unfuck a woman or shove the baby back in.

   • 2002, Larry Owen, The Female Lieutenant, →ISBN, page 191:

     There is just no way to go back and unfuck the maid or whatever it was that got him in trouble in the first place.

   • 2011, Kate Willoughby, Just Winging It, →ISBN, page 63:

     Recognizing the signs that she was approaching orgasm, he upped the pace […] But too late now to unfuck her.

   • 2011, Erica Orloff, chapter 6, in Freudian Slip, →ISBN:

     Kate's voice was so quiet, Julian saw Leslie lean forward to hear her. “Do you propose undoing screwing my boyfriend, Leslie? Are you going to unfuck him?”

Usage notes

• As modification to history is typically hypothetical, the sense concerning copulation is usually used in a negative construction.

See also

• Appendix:Glossary of military slang