elaborate
worked out with great care and nicety of detail; executed with great minuteness: elaborate preparations; elaborate care.
marked by intricate and often excessive detail; complicated; ornate.
to work out carefully or minutely; develop to perfection.
to add details to; expand.
to produce or develop by labor.
Physiology. to convert (food, plasma, etc.) by means of chemical processes into a substance more suitable for use within the body.
to add details in writing, speaking, etc.; give additional or fuller treatment (usually followed by on or upon): to elaborate upon a theme or an idea.
Origin of elaborate
1synonym study For elaborate
Other words for elaborate
1 | perfected, painstaking |
3 | refine, improve |
7 | refine, improve |
Opposites for elaborate
Other words from elaborate
- e·lab·o·rate·ly, adverb
- e·lab·o·rate·ness, noun
- e·lab·o·ra·tive, adjective
- e·lab·o·ra·tor, noun
- non·e·lab·o·rate, adjective
- non·e·lab·o·rate·ly, adverb
- non·e·lab·o·rate·ness, noun
- non·e·lab·o·rat·ing, adjective
- non·e·lab·o·ra·tive, adjective
- qua·si-e·lab·o·rate, adjective
- qua·si-e·lab·o·rate·ly, adverb
- self-e·lab·o·rat·ed, adjective
- su·per·e·lab·o·rate, adjective
- su·per·e·lab·o·rate·ly, adverb
- su·per·e·lab·o·rate·ness, noun
- un·e·lab·o·rate, adjective
- un·e·lab·o·rate·ly, adverb
- un·e·lab·o·rate·ness, noun
- un·e·lab·o·rat·ed, adjective
- well-e·lab·o·rat·ed, adjective
Words Nearby elaborate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use elaborate in a sentence
In an email exchange a friend said many had repeated this same succinct review but they could never elaborate.
‘Empire’ Review: Hip-Hop Musical Chairs with an Insane Soap Opera Twist | Judnick Mayard | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTA senior Iranian official in Pakistan later confirmed the strike took place, declining to elaborate.
The Dangerous Drug-Funded Secret War Between Iran and Pakistan | Umar Farooq | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHitchcock loved to tell stories, elaborate, complicated rough drafts for movies he would never make.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHis most elaborate camera maneuvers seemed almost diabolical in their complexity.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd he tells Bob Boyle to start making sketches for the more elaborate sequences.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The same two impulses are said to lie at the root of the elaborate art of personal adornment developed by savages.
Children's Ways | James SullyThe attempt at social change threatens a social revolution in which the whole elaborate mechanism would burst into fragments.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockIt contained an elaborate account of all the comets recorded in history , down to the year 1665.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellThe menu was long, elaborate and imposing; equalled only by the toast list, which contained no less than sixteen separate toasts.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland | Joseph TatlowIn preparation for this event Ki Pak had made careful and elaborate arrangements.
Our Little Korean Cousin | H. Lee M. Pike
British Dictionary definitions for elaborate
planned or executed with care and exactness; detailed
marked by complexity, ornateness, or detail
(intr; usually foll by on or upon) to add information or detail (to an account); expand (upon)
(tr) to work out in detail; develop
(tr) to make more complicated or ornate
(tr) to produce by careful labour; create
(tr) physiol to change (food or simple substances) into more complex substances for use in the body
Origin of elaborate
1Derived forms of elaborate
- elaborately, adverb
- elaborateness, noun
- elaboration, noun
- elaborative (ɪˈlæbərətɪv), adjective
- elaborator, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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