unfolding

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of unfold.

   The petals were unfolding in the warmth of the morning sun.

   Unfolding the ancient manuscript took both patience and steady hands.

   Note

   The -ing form works on both sides of the verb. Intransitive, it describes something opening or developing by itself: petals unfolding, events unfolding as feared. Transitive, it takes a direct object: unfolding a map. That object is the test that separates it from the noun for the process. The gerund says unfolding the map, the noun says the unfolding of the map, and only the noun takes a plural.

2. 2
   nounfigurativelyuncountable

   The gradual process through which a situation, story, or event develops and becomes revealed.

   Like a long scroll being rolled open, revealing more of the picture with each turn.

   The unfolding of the political scandal dominated the news for weeks.

   Historians traced the unfolding of the revolution across several turbulent decades.

   Similardevelopment, progression, evolution

   Note

   Mostly a figurative word, though the literal meaning holds on. R. K. Evans, writing in Modern Railway in 1962, describes "the frenzied unfolding of wiring diagrams" after a stalled trial run. Figuratively it usually comes with the and of: the unfolding of a scandal, of a life. It can also be counted. Bruce Handy in the New York Times praises Gould's "graceful unfoldings" of Beatles tunes, each performance a theme opened out.

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