explain.
To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
Meaning & usage
To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
The issue was explained to the governor in detail.
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.
She tried to explain but he wouldn’t listen.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English explanen, from Old French explaner, from Latin explanō (“to flatten, spread out, make plain or clear, explain”), from ex- (“out”) + planō (“to flatten, make level”), from planus (“level, plain”); see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced Old English reċċan.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.