What does EXPLAIN mean?
Definitions for EXPLAIN
ɪkˈspleɪnex·plain
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word EXPLAIN.
Princeton's WordNet
explain, explicateverb
make plain and comprehensible
"He explained the laws of physics to his students"
explainverb
define
"The committee explained their plan for fund-raising to the Dean"
excuse, explainverb
serve as a reason or cause or justification of
"Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work"; "Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again"
Wiktionary
explainverb
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 (c) how to do something, about the steps which need to be accomplished in order to accomplish a certain goal.
explainverb
To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.
explainverb
To make flat, smooth out.
explainverb
To unfold or make visible.
Etymology: explanen, from explaner, from explanō, from ex- + planō, from planus; see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced native arecchen, irecchen (from areccan, gereccan).
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
To EXPLAINverb
To expound; to illustrate; to clear by notes or commentaries.
Etymology: explano, Latin.
Such is the original design, however we may explain it away. John Ayliffe, Parergon.
You will have variety of commentators to explain the difficult passages to you. John Gay.
Some explain’d the meaning quite away. Alexander Pope.
ChatGPT
explain
To explain means to make something clear, understandable, or comprehensible by providing information, details, or reasoning. It involves breaking down a concept, idea, process, or situation into simpler terms or steps in order to convey meaning or clarify any confusion. The purpose of explaining is to help others gain knowledge, insight, or a deeper understanding of a particular topic or issue.
Webster Dictionary
Explainadjective
to flatten; to spread out; to unfold; to expand
Explainadjective
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
Explainverb
to give an explanation
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Explain
eks-plān′, 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. [O. Fr. explaner—L. explanāre—ex, out, planāre—planus, plain.]
Editors Contribution
explain
To use words to provide data, detail, an answer, response, proof or information.
The government are asked to explain the reason for their efficient and effective increase in revenue.
Submitted by MaryC on February 14, 2020
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'EXPLAIN' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1356
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'EXPLAIN' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1107
Verbs Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'EXPLAIN' in Verbs Frequency: #119
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of EXPLAIN in Chaldean Numerology is: 1
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of EXPLAIN in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9
Examples of EXPLAIN in a Sentence
For the worlds where our current best explanation for their flat spectra is a planet-wide haze layer, though, our observations show that Titan's haze isn't a good analogy for whatever makes up the haze on these distant worlds, some other kind of haze, with different properties for interacting with light, could explain the flat spectrum.
We have struggled, as adults, to comprehend these unspeakably horrific deeds and to explain to our children, Evy's cherished grandchildren, that their beautiful, kind, and giving Grand-mom was no longer able to walk among us, there is no why. It has been an unimaginable task to bring reason to something so senseless.
This action is long overdue and follows an inexplicable series of events in which the White House played a role in selectively and surreptitiously providing the documents to our Chairman (Nunes), the White House has yet to explain why it attempted to conceal its role in the compilation of these materials. The White House is not a whistleblower and nothing that I was shown justifies such duplicitous conduct.
Judges will have to explain how small-time crooks in front of them were worse than the defendants in this case.
Giving a name and to name something is to explain it and may even give power over it
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for EXPLAIN
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- شرح, يشرح, فسرArabic
- обяснявам, давам обясненияBulgarian
- explicarCatalan, Valencian
- vysvětlitCzech
- erklären, erläuternGerman
- εξηγώGreek
- klarigiEsperanto
- explicarSpanish
- توضیح دادنPersian
- selittää, selostaaFinnish
- expliquer, Explique, justifierFrench
- explicarGalician
- הסבירHebrew
- समझानाHindi
- magyarázHungarian
- explikarIdo
- spiegare, illustrare, chiosareItalian
- להסבירHebrew
- 説明Japanese
- 변명하다, 설명하다Korean
- şayesandin, derbirin, saloxandin, vegotinKurdish
- explicōLatin
- skaidrotLatvian
- whakamārama, whakamahukiMāori
- uitleggen, verklarenDutch
- explicarOccitan
- explanar, explicarPortuguese
- alayrichiyQuechua
- explicaRomanian
- объяснить, объяснять, оправдывать, оправдатьRussian
- обја̀снити, objàsniti, rasvijetliti, расвијетлитиSerbo-Croatian
- pojasnitiSlovene
- förklaraSwedish
- వివరించుTelugu
- ชี้แจง, อธิบายThai
- пояснитиUkrainian
- اس بات کی و, سمجھاناUrdu
- giải thíchVietnamese
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