explain
Usage
What are other ways to say explain?
To explain is to make plain, clear, or intelligible something that is not known or understood: to explain a theory or a problem. To elucidate is to throw light on what before was dark and obscure, usually by illustration and commentary and sometimes by elaborate explanation: They asked him to elucidate his statement. To expound is to give a methodical, detailed, scholarly explanation of something, usually Scriptures, doctrines, or philosophy: to expound the doctrine of free will. To interpret is to give the meaning of something by paraphrase, by translation, or by an explanation based on personal opinion: to interpret a poem or a symbol.
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:
It’s a fever that even the professors are struggling to explain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Donna believes the UK government should use television programmes to explain how to prepare.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
The researchers discovered additional biological processes that explain why senescent cells continue producing inflammatory signals.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026
Its rocket launching business, for which it’s best known, lost $1.2 billion on $3.3 billion in revenue, which might explain why Musk is talking up the future of AI rather than rockets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Newspapers, in both the North and the South, struggled to explain the tangled politics to the public.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Gun violence isn’t just about gun violence, Gladwell says, as he explains why it’s a story that captivates his interest after three decades of reporting on crime and policing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Second, this autoimmune reaction explains how one of the strongest known genetic risk factors for IBD contributes to the disease.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
The resultant volatility has led analysts to attach a much higher equity risk premium to Korean stocks and Moe maintains this explains roughly half of the Kospi’s 40% drop.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
"The way that Tite Kubo integrates all these cultures and represents them in a Japanese art form is really interesting and amazing," the 28-year-old explains.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Abuela explains, “I should say, I was born in Turkey. I left for Cuba when I was twelve and never returned to Turkey, never saw my mother and father and my two sisters again.”
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
"What we find is that closure orders are a really good temporary solution to address any problem premises," O'Brien explained.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
The sitcom creative explained how that instance inspired him to work hard to make it in Hollywood.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
Sophie Hambleton, Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology at Newcastle University, explained that studying these uncommon conditions provided important clues about the mechanisms involved in more widespread forms of IBD.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
Micron stock was gaining as it explained why it’s not worried about CXMT’s 4F square memory-chip design.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
He had slithered into the kitchen, explained about the peanut-butter-eating lizard, and his mother had realized that it was probably feeding time in the lizard world.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
On a Tuesday morning in October, Samantha Matherne paced as she marked up on a white board explaining the philosophical underpinnings of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” with segues into Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
These findings suggested that the gut microbiome could play an important role in explaining why the combination was particularly harmful.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026
The real Evans later acknowledges withholding some details from Holmes, explaining that she had enough on her mind.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
“As a male shopper I hate these posts,” one Reddit commenter wrote, explaining that he handled his family’s grocery shopping and knew his local stores intimately.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026
Now that I was explaining my ideas, I felt my initial excitement returning.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
Vocabulary lists containing explain
PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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The SAT: Language of the Test, List 4
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