explain

  • 21explain — v. 1) to explain satisfactorily 2) (B) she explained the problem to me 3) (L; to) he explained (to us) that the examination would take place later 4) (Q) he explained why he was late * * * [ɪk spleɪn] (B) she explained the problem to me (L; to)… …

    Combinatory dictionary

  • 22EXPLAIN — (Roget s Thesaurus II) Index explain noun account, excuse, explanation adjective explainable, explanatory verb account for, elaborate, explain …

    English dictionary for students

  • 23explain — 01. I didn t really understand the math problem at first, but my friend [explained] it to me, and now it seems pretty clear. 02. Do you have a good [explanation] for why you weren t home last night at midnight? 03. There are many [unexplainable]… …

    Grammatical examples in English

  • 24explain — [15] To explain a matter is literally to ‘make it plain’. The word comes from Latin expletive 204 explānāre, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix ex and the adjective plānus ‘flat’ (source of English plain). This originally meant… …

    The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • 25explain — verb 1》 make (something) clear by providing more detail. 2》 give a reason or justification for.     ↘(explain oneself) excuse or justify one s behaviour.     ↘(explain something away) minimize the significance of something embarrassing by giving… …

    English new terms dictionary

  • 26explain — ex•plain [[t]ɪkˈspleɪn[/t]] v. t. 1) to make clear or intelligible 2) to make known in detail 3) to make clear the cause or reason of; account for: I cannot explain his strange behavior[/ex] 4) to give an explanation 5) phv explain away, to… …

    From formal English to slang

  • 27explain — [15] To explain a matter is literally to ‘make it plain’. The word comes from Latin explānāre, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix ex and the adjective plānus ‘flat’ (source of English plain). This originally meant ‘flatten out, make …

    Word origins

  • 28explain — verb /ɛkˈspleɪn,ɪkˈspleɪn/ a) To give a sufficiently detailed report about (a) the reason for something, about why something happened, about a causal chain of events; about (b) how something works, about how elements in a system interact; about… …

    Wiktionary

  • 29explain — Synonyms and related words: absolve, account, account for, acquit, aid, allegorize, analyze, answer, bottom, break down, clarify, clear, clear the way, clear up, condone, construe, crack, cry sour grapes, debug, decipher, decode, define,… …

    Moby Thesaurus

  • 30explain — verb 1) a technician explained the procedure Syn: describe, give an explanation of, make clear, make intelligible, spell out, put into words; elucidate, expound, explicate, clarify, throw/shed light on; gloss, interpret See note at …

    Thesaurus of popular words