explain
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
Middle English explanen, from Old French explaner, from Latin explanāre (“to flatten, to spread out, make plain or clear, explain”), from ex- (“out”) + planāre (“to flatten, make level”), from planus (“level, plain”); see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced native Middle English arecchen, irecchen (“to explain, expound”) (from Old English āreccan, ġereccan).
Pronunciation [edit]
Verb [edit]
explain (third-person singular simple present explains, present participle explaining, simple past and past participle explained)
- To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
- 2012 March 1, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 106:
- Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
- To explain a chapter of the Bible.
- 2012 March 1, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 106:
- To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.
- (obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.
- (obsolete) To unfold or make visible.
- Evelyn
- The horse-chestnut is […] ready to explain its leaf.
- Evelyn
Synonyms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
report
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excuse
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External links [edit]
- explain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- explain in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
