elucidate

/ɪˈlusɪdeɪt/

/ɪˈlusɪdeɪt/

Other forms: elucidated; elucidating; elucidates

If you elucidate something, you explain it very clearly. If you don't understand fractions, a visit to the pie shop may elucidate the subject for you.

Elucidate, meaning "to make clear," is from the Late Latin elucidare, from the Latin prefix e-, "thoroughly," and lucidus, "clear, bright." See the word lucid in elucidate? That's an adjective which describes someone who thinks clearly or something that is clear enough to understand.

Definitions of elucidate

1. verb

   make clear and (more) comprehensible
   synonyms: clarify, clear up

   types:

   demystify

   make less mysterious or remove the mystery from

   clear, clear up, crystalise, crystalize, crystallise, crystallize, enlighten, illuminate, shed light on, sort out, straighten out

   make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear

   dilate, elaborate, enlarge, expand, expatiate, exposit, expound, flesh out

   add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing

   disambiguate

   state unambiguously or remove ambiguities from

   detail

   provide details for

   exposit, expound, set forth

   state

   exemplify, illustrate, instance

   clarify by giving an example of

   particularise, particularize, specialise, specialize, specify

   be specific about

   type of:

   explain, explicate

   make plain and comprehensible
2. verb

   make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear
   synonyms: clear, clear up, crystalise, crystalize, crystallise, crystallize, enlighten, illuminate, shed light on, sort out, straighten out

   type of:

   clarify, clear up

   make clear and (more) comprehensible