détricoter

Literally to unknit a piece of knitting, stitch by stitch — but just as common today in French political and media language for dismantling a law or reform piece by piece, a usage that took off during the 2014 debate over unravelling the ALUR housing law and has stuck ever since (le détricotage du Code du travail, d'une réforme).

• Elle a dû détricoter tout le pull à cause d'une erreur. — She had to unravel the whole sweater because of a mistake.
• L'opposition accuse le gouvernement de détricoter la loi sur le logement. — The opposition accuses the government of unravelling the housing law.
• Il a fallu détricoter des mois de négociations en une seule réunion. — Months of negotiations had to be undone in a single meeting.

Learners who only know the literal knitting sense are often thrown by headlines like 'la réforme détricotée' — in news French, détricoter is now more often figurative (undoing a law) than about actual yarn.

• politics Détricoter la loi ALUR — The figurative political use of détricoter/détricotage entered common French media and political language during the summer 2014 controversy over rolling back the ALUR housing law, and has been applied to legislative rollbacks ever since.