explain
Verb
Verb Forms: explained, explaining, explains
- To make clear or understandable.
- make plain and comprehensible
- "He explained the laws of physics to his students"
- define
- "The committee explained their plan for fund-raising to the Dean"
- serve as a reason or cause or justification of
- "Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again"
- To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
- To give the reason for, justification for, or cause of.
- To make flat, smooth out.
- To unfold or make visible.
- To make something plain or intelligible.
Examples
- He had to explain the complex rules of Words With Friends to his new player.
- She tried to explain but he wouldn’t listen.
- The issue was explained to the governor in detail.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English explanen, from Old French explaner, from Latin explanō (“I flatten, spread out, make plain or clear, explain”), from ex- (“out”) + planō (“I flatten, make level”), from planus (“level, plain”); see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced Old English reċċan.
Synonyms
excuse, explicate, clarify, describe, direct, disclose, elaborate, elucidate, explain, expound, illustrate, inform, instruct, justify, recce, specify, teach, unravel, untangle
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 16
explain: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordexplain: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
explain: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary