Explain
[ɪk'spleɪn;ek-] or [ɪk'splen]
Definition
(verb.) make plain and comprehensible; 'He explained the laws of physics to his students'.
(verb.) define; 'The committee explained their plan for fund-raising to the Dean'.
Inputed by Kelly--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) To flatten; to spread out; to unfold; to expand.
(a.) To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to expound; to unfold and illustrate the meaning of; as, to explain a chapter of the Bible.
(v. i.) To give an explanation.
Inputed by Hannibal
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Interpret, elucidate, expound, illustrate, unfold, solve, ECLAIRCIZE, clear up, make plain, throw light upon.
v. n. Account, give a reason, give an explanation.
Inputed by Harvey
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Expound, teach, illustrate, clear_up, interpret, elucidate, decipher
ANT:Mystify, obscure, darken, bewilder, misinterpret
Checker: Roderick
Definition
v.t. to make plain or intelligible: to unfold and illustrate the meaning of: to expound: to account for.—adj. Explain′able that may be explained or cleared up.—ns. Explain′er one who explains; Explanā′tion act of explaining or clearing from obscurity: that which explains or clears up: the meaning or sense given to anything: a mutual clearing up of matters.—adv. Explan′atorily.—adj. Explan′atory serving to explain or clear up: containing explanations.—Explain away to modify the force of by explanation generally in a bad sense.
Checked by Chiquita
Examples
- We can here consider only a few cases; of these, some of the most difficult to explain are presented by fish. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Is there anything further which I can explain, Dr. Trevelyan? Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- I must explain to you, Mr. Holmes, that to-morrow is the first day of the examination for the Fortescue Scholarship. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Miss Clack, will you have the goodness to explain yourself? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- She tried to explain the real state of the case to her sister. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Explain the purport of your remark. Plato. The Republic.
- Why you are so certain you cannot explain to yourself, but you know it. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- In a whisper, he explained to me the apparition of the three figures on the platform of rock. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I alluded to the coldness of her letters; but the few minutes we had spent together sufficiently explained the origin of this. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- The last name was written in pencil, and Amy explained that he was to rewrite it in ink and seal it up for her properly. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Every thing, that is different is distinguishable: and everything, that is distinguishable, may be separated, according to the maxims above-explained. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- The great and general utility of the banking trade, when prudently managed, has been fully explained in the second book of this Inquiry. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- An instant later the mystery was explained. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- They smell less if one blows them out, she explained, with her bright housekeeping air. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- More than any other generalization it illuminates the currents of our national life and explains the altering tasks of statesmanship. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The origin of justice explains that of property. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Mr. Vholes, explains the client, somewhat abashed, I had no intention to accuse you of insensibility. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- He explains the perplexities and contradictions of life as a conflict of light and darkness, Ormuzd was God and Ahriman Satan. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The manner, in which these two systems, though directly contrary, are connected together, may be explains, as follows. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Yes, he sings for me, and I read to him in my Bible; and he explains what it means, you know. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- This--clamping and fastening--explains the necessity for building the bed on its side. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Not at all, said Lydgate, I was simply explaining my own action. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- He would write explaining his absence, of course; there would be a note from him by the late post. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- We killed a pair of _guardia civil_, he said, explaining the military saddles. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- As for YOUR way of looking at it, William Brangwen, it needs a little explaining. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I believe this rule to be of the highest importance in explaining the laws of embryology. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- I propose explaining the case to the servants. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- The accompanying diagram will assist in explaining the arrangement. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
Checked by Harriet