Definitions for explain
ɪkˈspleɪnex·plain

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. explain, explicate(verb)

   make plain and comprehensible

   "He explained the laws of physics to his students"

2. explain(verb)

   define

   "The committee explained their plan for fund-raising to the Dean"

3. excuse, explain(verb)

   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(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. explain(Verb)

   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.

   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).

2. explain(Verb)

   To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.

   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).

3. explain(Verb)

   To make flat, smooth out.

   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).

4. explain(Verb)

   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).

Webster Dictionary(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Explain(adj)

   to flatten; to spread out; to unfold; to expand

2. Explain(adj)

   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

3. Explain(verb)

   to give an explanation

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. 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(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. 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

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'explain' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1356

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'explain' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1107

3. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'explain' in Verbs Frequency: #119

How to pronounce explain?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say explain in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of explain in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of explain in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of explain in a Sentence

1. Jen Psaki:

   We spent a lot of time looking at the promises that Biden made on the campaign trail and thinking how we’re going to implement those and execute them, for my team, that means preparing written materials, thinking through QA, thinking about how we explain Joe Biden’s priorities to the American people. That’s one big piece of the work.

2. Lucas Moura:

   Its impossible to explain what Im feeling in this moment, we always believed it was possible, and we gave everything on the pitch. I think we deserved this moment.

3. Officer Tyler Beddoes:

   It wasn't just something that was just in our heads. To me it was plain as day cause I remember hearing a voice, i think it was Dewitt who said, 'We're trying. We're trying our best to get in there.' How do you explain that? I don't know.

4. Yuval Steinitz:

   We will continue to fight on the intelligence front, the public front to explain, we will examine very well how to cancel it, or at least to close some of the open breaches in this interim agreement.

5. Andrea Grignolio:

   Italy is part of a global trend of distrust in mediators -- doctors and scientists -- who can interpret and explain data, with the advent of the Internet, people have the illusion they can access and read data by themselves, removing the need for technical and scientific knowledge.

Images & Illustrations of explain

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