Synonyms for explain
- analyze
- clarify
- define
- demonstrate
- describe
- disclose
- expound
- illustrate
- interpret
- justify
- point out
- read
- resolve
- reveal
- solve
- spell out
- tell
- annotate
- construe
- decipher
- diagram
- elucidate
- excuse
- explicate
- manifest
- paraphrase
- rationalize
- refine
- render
- teach
- translate
- unfold
- unravel
- untangle
- account for
- break down
- bring out
- clear up
- get across
- go into detail
- make plain
- put across
- put in plain English
- set right
- throw light upon
Antonyms for explain
- conceal
- confuse
- distort
- hide
- misrepresent
- misunderstand
- question
- wonder
- cloud
- mystify
- obscure
- stagnate
- tangle
- withhold
- be vague
- complicate
- perplex
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR EXPLAIN
Don't mind him, dad—I know all about it, I tell you—I'll explain later to you.
Lucas spoke to him in Flemish to explain his own return with the English prentice.
But before you start to read let me explain what I intend to do.
Nothin' you could understand; you need a mother to explain things to you.
"I'll have to explain," she smiled as she introduced him to Evelyn.
You're going to explain it all to me this afternoon, aren't you?
"Come down to the crick with me after tea, and I'll explain," said Will.
Which of the two, then, would our author want to explain metaphorically?
Give him this letter when he comes home, it will explain the circumstances to him.
The preacher was trying to explain to us the eternal duration of God's punishment.
WORD ORIGIN
early 15c., from Latin explanare "to make level, smooth out;" also "to explain, make clear" (see explanation).
Originally explane, spelling altered by influence of plain. Also see plane (v.2). In 17c., occasionally used more literally, of the unfolding of material things: Evelyn has buds that "explain into leaves" ["Sylva, or, A discourse of forest-trees, and the propagation of timber in His Majesties dominions," 1664]. Related: Explained; explaining; explains.