Explain

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɪkˈspleɪn/

Definitions

1. To make something clear or easy to understand by describing it in detail
2. To clarify or give reasons for something so others can comprehend it
3. To provide information that removes confusion about a topic or idea

Etymology: Before it meant making something clear, "explain" meant making something flat. Its Latin ancestor, "explanare," combined "ex-" (out) with "planare" (to flatten or level), so the literal sense was spreading something out until it lay smooth. The same root gives us "plain," "plane," and "esplanade," a level promenade. Clarity was imagined as laying a thing out so that every part could be seen. The word reached English in Middle English, through Old French "explaner," and it displaced the Old English verb "reċċan," which had meant to make known or to tell. The Latin meaning shifted from flattening to unfolding and clarifying, and English inherited that figurative sense.

Synonyms: clarify, describe, elucidate, interpret, expound

Antonyms: confuse, obscure, muddle, mystify, complicate