unformat

U1N1F4O1R1M3A1T1

verb

To remove or undo a format; to reverse the formatting of a disk.

UncommonScrabble 13
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Meanings

verbunformat (third-person singular simple present unformats, present participle unformatting, simple past and past participle unformatted)

present singular third person unformats · participle present unformatting · participle past unformatted · past unformatted

  1. computingTo remove or undo a format; to reverse the formatting of a disk.

    Fatcat also fails to warn you that unformatting will trash any files copied to the unintentionally formatted disk.

    1989 December 18, InfoWorld, page 66
    1 more example

    This step releases the button so that it isn't pressed in anymore, and the formatting should disappear. If one click doesn't do the trick, then some of the text probably wasn't formatted. It is now! Click the button again to unformat the text.

    1999, Margaret Levine Young, David C. Kay, Kathy Warfel, WordPerfect 9 for Windows For Dummies, page 119

Origin

From un- + format.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Montufar
Cite this entry
APA

unformat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unformat

MLA

“unformat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unformat. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unformat,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unformat.

Source: unformat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.