explain

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To make something clear or easy to understand by describing it.

   The teacher explained the laws of physics to her students.

2. 2
   verb

   To give the reason or cause for something.

   Can you explain why you were late this morning?

Multiword verbs with explain

• explain away Phrasal verb A2

  to give an explanation intended to make a troubling fact seem unimportant

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Explain entered English in the late Middle Ages from Latin explanare, based on planus “plain.” Early senses included “smooth out” and “spread out flat”; in the early 16th century it developed the sense “give details of,” followed by “make intelligible through clarification.”

From Middle English explanen, from Old French explaner, from Latin explanō (“to flatten, spread out, make plain or clear, explain”), from ex- (“out”) + planō (“to flatten, make level”), from planus (“level, plain”); see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced Old English reċċan.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary