elucidate
Usage
What are other ways to say elucidate?
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 explain is to make plain, clear, or intelligible something that is not known or understood: to explain a theory or a problem. 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:
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
But where its cinematic peers get snared by trying to elucidate the truth of the pop star, Lowery’s film skates past the conventions and trappings, landing on something high-concept but deceptively straightforward.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 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
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
“Beauty of the Beasts” elucidates their true role in nature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
This work, published in the journal Cell, elucidates the complexities of centriole assembly.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 10, 2024
She elucidates the myths and stories we tell about our lupine fears in ferocious and beautiful writing.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2023
This was the first book, recorded in history, which elucidates a pathological Science purely mental.
From Rudimental Divine Science by Mary Baker Eddy
“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
But the specific pathways by which the virus does so are still being elucidated, and curative treatments are nonexistent.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2024
Now, a team at HZB led by Prof. Alexander Föhlisch has elucidated the influence of the electronic structure on the stability of fumarate, maleate and succinate dianions.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2024
The region’s transformation from fertile woodland to eroded scrub or desert has been elucidated by paleobotanists and archaeologists.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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
Those include elucidating the molecular mechanisms that drive the development of CRC and identifying biomarkers for diagnosis and disease progression.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 4, 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
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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