elucidate

English

Etymology

From Late Latin ēlūcidātus, perfect passive participle of ēlūcidō (“clarify”), from Latin ex- and lūcidus (“clear”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈluː.sɪ.de͡ɪt/
• enPR: ĭ-lo͞o'-sĭ-dāt

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Verb

1. (transitive) To make clear; to clarify; to shed light upon.
   • 1817, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, ch. 13:

     The business, however, though not perfectly elucidated by this speech, soon ceased to be a puzzle.

   • 1960, "Medicine: Unmasking the Brain," Time, 4 April:

     [P]hysicians at the annual meeting of the American Academy of General Practice were fascinated by a 3-ft. model showing the brain's components in 20 layers of translucent plastic, and wired for colored lights to elucidate some of its workings.

   • 2004, David Bernstein, “Philosophy Hitches a Ride With ‘The Sopranos’,” New York Times, 13 April (retrieved 19 Aug. 2009):

     The new Sopranos volume has 17 essays that examine the television show and elucidate concepts from classical philosophers, including Aristotle, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Sun Tzu and Plato.

   Synonyms: explicate, illuminate

Derived terms

• elucidation
• elucidative
• elucidator
• elucidatory

 

Related terms

• lucid
• lucidity

 

Translations

make clear

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 阐明 (zh) (chǎnmíng), 说明 (zh) (shuōmíng), 解释 (zh) (jiěshì)

• Czech: ozřejmit
• Danish: uddybe
• Dutch: verduidelijken (nl), verklaren (nl), uitleggen (nl), verhelderen (nl), clarificeren
• Finnish: valaista (fi), havainnollistaa (fi), selventää (fi)
• French: élucider (fr), expliquer (fr)
• German: erläutern (de), verdeutlichen (de), erklären (de)
• Hebrew: ביאר \ בֵּאֵר (be'ér), פירש \ פֵּרֵשׁ (perésh)
• Hungarian: megvilágít (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: chiarire (it)
• Maori: whakapūaho, whakamahuki, whakamārama, whakamāori
• Norwegian: klargjøre
• Persian: روشن کردن (fa) (rovšan kardan)
• Polish: objaśniać (pl), wyjaśniać (pl)
• Portuguese: elucidar (pt), esclarecer (pt)
• Quechua: chiqaqchay
• Russian: разъясня́ть (ru) impf (razʺjasnjátʹ)
• Spanish: dilucidar (es), elucidar (es)
• Swedish: klargöra (sv), förklara (sv), kasta ljus över (sv), belysa (sv)

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Italian

Verb

elucidate

1. second-person plural present indicative of elucidare
2. second-person plural imperative of elucidare

Participle

elucidate

1. feminine plural of the past participle of elucidare

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /eː.luː.kiˈdaː.te/, [eːɫ̪uːkɪˈd̪äːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.lu.t͡ʃiˈda.te/, [elut͡ʃiˈd̪äːt̪e]

Verb

(deprecated template usage) ēlūcidāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of ēlūcidō