explain

== English == === Alternative forms === explane (obsolete) === 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. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ɪkˈspleɪn/, /ɛkˈspleɪn/ (Indic) IPA(key): /ɛksˈplen/, (without the pane–pain merger, spelling pronunciation) /ɛksˈplɛjn/ Rhymes: -eɪn === Verb === explain (third-person singular simple present explains, present participle explaining, simple past and past participle explained) (transitive) To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of. (transitive) To give the reason for, justification for, or cause of. (obsolete) To make flat, smooth out. (obsolete) To unfold or make visible. April 14, 1684, John Evelyn, a letter sent to the Royal Society concerning the damage done to his gardens by the preceding winter The horse-chestnut is […] ready to explain its leaf. (intransitive) To make something plain or intelligible. ==== Synonyms ==== (give a sufficiently detailed report): expound, elaborate, recce, elucidate, bring home ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== ==== Further reading ==== “explain”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “explain”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “explain”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.