untethers
Cuts the rope
Untethers means to release from a tether or restraining connection.
Literally, you might untether a horse from a post.
More often the word appears figuratively: a policy that untethers wages from productivity, a musician who untethers herself from convention.
The sense is of freeing something previously bound or constrained.
Removes restraining devices
- unleashesReleases from restraint
- emancipatesReleases from control
- liberatesSets free from captivity
- releasesLets go or publishes
detaches · disengages · loosens · unfastens · unbinds · uncouples · unhooks · unclips
- fleesDeparts to escape danger
- eludesEscapes from skillfully
- slips awayDeparts unnoticed, gradually
- breaks looseFrees itself from confinement
gets away · extricates · bolts · absconds · decamps · breaks out · cuts loose · shakes off
Floating without control
- floatingStaying atop liquid
- driftingMoving without purpose
- roamingMoving without fixed purpose
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
loose · unmoored · unanchored · detached · disconnected · free-floating · rootless · ungrounded
Independent decision-making capacity
- self-relianceDepending on oneself alone
- self-sufficiencyIndependence from outside aid
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- empowermentGaining authority or confidence
sovereignty · freedom · individualism · self-rule · freethinking · nonconformity · self-direction · self-governance
unshackles
Removes restraining devices
- unleashesReleases from restraint
- emancipatesReleases from control
- liberatesSets free from captivity
releases · detaches · disengages · loosens · unfastens · unbinds · uncouples · unhooks · unclips · unstraps
breaks free
- fleesDeparts to escape danger
- eludesEscapes from skillfully
- slips awayDeparts unnoticed, gradually
breaks loose · gets away · extricates · bolts · absconds · decamps · breaks out · cuts loose · shakes off · escapes
adrift
Floating without control
wandering · loose · unmoored · unanchored · detached · disconnected · free-floating · rootless · ungrounded · cast off
autonomy
Independent decision-making capacity
- self-relianceDepending on oneself alone
- self-sufficiencyIndependence from outside aid
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
empowerment · sovereignty · freedom · individualism · self-rule · freethinking · nonconformity · self-direction · self-governance · self-standing