unfolded

Unfolded is the past participle and adjective of unfold, used to describe something that has been opened up, expanded, or developed from a folded or compact state. It can refer to physical objects, processes, or events as they become visible or revealed. In everyday language, people say that a plan or story has "unfolded" as it progresses.

In narrative writing, the phrase "the plot unfolded" describes the gradual revelation of events over time, often with increasing detail leading to a climax or resolution.

In science, "unfolded" is used in contexts such as protein folding. Proteins adopt a folded native state under physiological conditions, but at higher temperatures or in denaturants they may become unfolded, losing stable three-dimensional structure; the unfolded state is typically more flexible and less ordered. The study of unfolding kinetics and thermodynamics helps understand folding pathways. The term also appears in polymer science, where long-chain molecules can be unfolded or stretched.

In mathematics and geometry, "unfolding" refers to transforming a three-dimensional object into a two-dimensional net by flattening its surfaces; an unfolded polyhedron is a net used for construction.