elucidate
Americanverb (used with object)
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elucidates,
present (3rd person singular)
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elucidated,
past participle, past
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elucidating
present participle
verb (used without object)
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elucidates,
present (3rd person singular)
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elucidated,
past participle, past
-
elucidating
present participle
verb
Usage
What are other ways to say elucidate?
To elucidate something is to throw light upon it or make it clear. How does elucidate compare to synonyms explain, expound, and interpret? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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elucidationnoun
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elucidatornoun
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elucidativeadjective
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nonelucidatingadjective
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nonelucidativeadjective
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unelucidatedadjective
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unelucidatingadjective
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unelucidativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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elucidatesimple
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elucidatessimple
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have elucidatedperfect
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has elucidatedperfect
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am elucidatingprogressive
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are elucidatingprogressive
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is elucidatingprogressive
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have been elucidatingperfect progressive
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has been elucidatingperfect progressive
Past
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elucidatedsimple
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had elucidatedperfect
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was elucidatingprogressive
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were elucidatingprogressive
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had been elucidatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of elucidate
First recorded in 1560–70; from Late Latin ēlūcidātus “enlightened” (past participle of ēlūcidāre ), equivalent to ē- intensive prefix + lūcid(us) “bright, shining, clear, clear to the understanding” + -ātus adjective suffix; see origin at e- 1, lucid, -ate 1
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing elucidate
Let There Be Light: Lum and Luc
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 16–19
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But before the officer could elucidate a satisfying response, agents drove up and surrounded Zemian and Amundson’s vehicle.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Members of Congress will want Warsh to elucidate his plans for bringing inflation down to the Fed’s 2% target.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
"There are many questions that we will only elucidate when we are able to go back," Grossi told reporters.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026
We chronicle, explicate, elucidate and constantly “re-adjudicate” historical events and personages.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2024
Which is of course idiotic in the kind of profound and multivalent way that only an English teacher could fully elucidate.
From "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan
In a collection of his reviews, “Big Screen, Little Screen,” I was struck by the way he elucidates the alchemy of Page’s acting.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
The novel also elucidates the strange limbo of the American immigration quota process, which “resembled a bakery system gone awry.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
The team's modelling framework elucidates three critical system features: First, collective property rights most likely evolved sequentially -- certain puzzle pieces must be in place before others can evolve.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024
She elucidates the myths and stories we tell about our lupine fears in ferocious and beautiful writing.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2023
The work details the Antiquities, and elucidates the Ancient Names of Fields and Places, in every part of the County; traces the Ancient Roads, discusses the Folk-lore, and notices the Border Antiquities.
From Notes and Queries, Number 186, May 21, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by George Bell
“The Devil Wears Prada” was a heaping dose of wish-fulfillment, but it was also the very movie that carefully and artfully elucidated the values of magazines and fashion, emphasizing the art form of both.
From Salon ● May 6, 2026
Still, the impressive power of the book club might have been better elucidated if details about its impact in other Eastern Bloc countries were brought into the story.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2025
Researchers from University of Tsukuba elucidated the molecular mechanism by which macrophages, a type of immune cells, control heat production in brown adipose tissue to increase the body temperature in response to cold.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2024
But the specific pathways by which the virus does so are still being elucidated, and curative treatments are nonexistent.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2024
But he did haul our water and cut wood, and he elucidated for us the many daily mysteries of Kilanga.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
The most elucidating superimposes a Pietà by Anne-Louis Girodet, David’s little-known pupil, over David’s “Marat.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
Without elucidating those necessary subtleties, “The Monkey” has no more value than the glib words of comfort whispered by a family friend who only came to the wake for the free food.
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2025
Their ineptitude complicates the journey, elucidating misconnections and cross-cultural exchanges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2025
In response, scientists at Texas A&M AgriLife Research are elucidating the ways that bacteria-infecting viruses disarm these pathogens and ushering in the possibility of novel treatment methods.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 15, 2024
Instead she heard her mother, Euphrosyne Stephanides, speaking in this very cocoonery years ago, elucidating the mysteries of silkworms—“To have good silk, you have to be pure,” she used to tell her daughter.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
