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Elaborate vs. Explain — What's the Difference?

Elaborate vs. Explain — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Elaborate and Explain

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Compare with Definitions

Elaborate

Planned or executed with painstaking attention to numerous parts or details
An elaborate scheme.

Explain

Make (an idea or situation) clear to someone by describing it in more detail or revealing relevant facts
He explained the situation
‘It's a device of great age,’ the professor explained
They explained that their lives centred on the religious rituals

Elaborate

Intricate and rich in detail
A carpet with an elaborate pattern.

Explain

To make plain or comprehensible.

Elaborate

To work out with care and detail; develop thoroughly
Elaborated a theory of social organization.
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Explain

To define; expound
We explained our plan to the committee.

Elaborate

To produce or compose (a substance, for example) from simpler elements.

Explain

To offer reasons for or a cause of; justify
Explain an error.

Elaborate

To explain something at greater length or in greater detail
Asked me to elaborate on my proposal.

Explain

To offer reasons for the actions, beliefs, or remarks of (oneself).

Elaborate

Complex, detailed, or sophisticated.
After reading a long, elaborate description, I was impressed but no wiser.

Explain

To make something plain or comprehensible
Let me explain.

Elaborate

Intricate, fancy, flashy, or showy.
I stared for hours at the elaborate pattern in the rug.

Explain

To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
She is about to explain a chapter of the Bible to the Sunday School students.
She tried to explain but he wouldn’t listen.

Elaborate

(transitive) to develop in detail or complexity

Explain

To give a valid excuse for past behavior.

Elaborate

(intransitive) (sometimes followed by on or upon, and then the object of the preposition) to expand/enlarge in detail
What do you mean you didn't come home last night? Would you care to elaborate?
Could you elaborate on the plot for your novel for me?

Explain

(obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.

Elaborate

Wrought with labor; finished with great care; studied; executed with exactness or painstaking; as, an elaborate discourse; an elaborate performance; elaborate research.
Drawn to the life in each elaborate page.

Explain

(obsolete) To unfold or make visible.

Elaborate

To produce with labor
They in full joy elaborate a sigh,

Explain

(intransitive) To make something plain or intelligible.

Elaborate

To perfect with painstaking; to improve or refine with labor and study, or by successive operations; as, to elaborate a painting or a literary work.
The sap is . . . still more elaborated and exalted as it circulates through the vessels of the plant.

Explain

To flatten; to spread out; to unfold; to expand.
The horse-chestnut is . . . ready to explain its leaf.

Elaborate

Add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing;
She elaborated on the main ideas in her dissertation

Explain

To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to expound; to unfold and illustrate the meaning of; as, to explain a chapter of the Bible.
Commentators to explain the difficult passages to you.

Elaborate

Produce from basic elements or sources; change into a more developed product;
The bee elaborates honey

Explain

To give an explanation.

Elaborate

Make more complex, intricate, or richer;
Refine a design or pattern

Explain

Make palin and comprehensible;
He explained the laws of physics to his students

Elaborate

Work out in detail;
Elaborate a plan

Explain

Define;
The committe explained their plan for fund-raising to the Dean

Elaborate

Marked by complexity and richness of detail;
An elaborate lace pattern

Explain

Serve as a reason or cause or justification of;
Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work
Her recent divorce amy explain her reluctance to date again

Elaborate

Developed or executed with care and in minute detail;
A detailed plan
The elaborate register of the inhabitants prevented tax evasion
The carefully elaborated theme

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