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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