explicate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make plain or clear; explain; interpret.
-
to develop (a principle, theory, etc.).
verb
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to make clear or explicit; explain
-
to formulate or develop (a theory, hypothesis, etc)
Other Word Forms
- explicative adjective
- explicator noun
- reexplicate verb (used with object)
- unexplicated adjective
- well-explicated adjective
Etymology
Origin of explicate
1525–35; < Latin explicātus unfolded, set forth, past participle of explicāre, equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + plicāre to fold; -ate 1
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.
In his 1998 book “Paradise Lost,” Schrag sought not simply to foretell the region’s future, but to explicate how its future foretold what was in store for the country as a whole.
From Los Angeles Times
Each of the songs explicates a place and time of an incident or an idea in the lives of the protagonists.
From Los Angeles Times
The attorney continued by likening the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection to the "culmination of a certification dispute," before explicating the domino effect theory of the GOP's efforts to hinder the democratic electoral process.
From Salon
We chronicle, explicate, elucidate and constantly “re-adjudicate” historical events and personages.
From Salon
ABC took that step after Rasmussen failed to respond suitably to a questionnaire 538 submitted asking Rasmussen to explicate its polling methodology.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
