elaboration

[ ih-lab-uh-rey-shuhn ]

noun

1. an act or instance of elaborating.
2. the state of being elaborated; elaborateness.
3. something that is elaborated.
4. Psychiatry. an unconscious process of expanding and embellishing a detail, especially while recalling and describing a representation in a dream so that latent content of the dream is brought into a logical and comprehensible order.

Other Words From

• self-e·labo·ration noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of elaboration¹

First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin ēlabōrātiōn-, stem of ēlabōrātiō, from ēlabōrāt(us) “worked out” (past participle of ēlabōrāre “to work out, produce through labor”; elaborate ) + -iō -ion

Example Sentences

He acknowledged that speculation about a lab leak is not in itself a conspiracy theory, but that doesn’t go for the elaborations that many of its adherents have made of it.

From Los Angeles Times

"These results help us understand the evolutionary history of horns and antlers and could suggest that differences in other ruminant cranial appendages, like ossicones and pronghorns, are also elaborations on a shared ancestral cranial appendage."

From Science Daily

The fourth church, New Hope Baptist of Gastonia, N.C., had failed to participate financially in the convention and showed no intent “to resolve a question of faith and practice,” the committee said without elaboration.

From Seattle Times

Neither office responded to a Times request for elaboration on what was found and where.

From Los Angeles Times

Slow tempo melodic elaborations that had a strong emotive emphasis became the insignia of his performances.

From BBC

Related Words

• amplification