explicate

[ ek-spli-keyt ]
See synonyms for: explicateexplicator on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),ex·pli·cat·ed, ex·pli·cat·ing.
  1. to make plain or clear; explain; interpret.

  2. to develop (a principle, theory, etc.).

Origin of explicate

1
1525–35; <Latin explicātus unfolded, set forth, past participle of explicāre, equivalent to ex-ex-1 + plicāre to fold; see -ate1

Other words from explicate

  • ex·pli·ca·tor, noun
  • re·ex·pli·cate, verb (used with object), re·ex·pli·cat·ed, re·ex·pli·cat·ing.
  • un·ex·pli·cat·ed, adjective
  • well-ex·pli·cat·ed, adjective

Words Nearby explicate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use explicate in a sentence

  • Science takes as its province mechanical causes, and leaves formal and final causes to the philosopher to explicate.

  • An attempt to explicate them from the congruity and incongruity of Bodies: what those proprieties are.

    Micrographia | Robert Hooke
  • We have merely to explicate the idea of intelligent spirit possessing being in its plenitude.

  • But Marie say there is the miss understand in our letters she cannot explicate.

    Deer Godchild | Marguerite Bernard and Edith Serrell
  • Whether, if so, this will not explicate the Phnomena of the Clouds.

    Micrographia | Robert Hooke

British Dictionary definitions for explicate

explicate

/ (ˈɛksplɪˌkeɪt) /


verb(tr) formal
  1. to make clear or explicit; explain

  2. to formulate or develop (a theory, hypothesis, etc)

Origin of explicate

1
C16: from Latin explicāre to unfold, from plicāre to fold

Derived forms of explicate

  • explicative (ɪkˈsplɪkətɪv) or explicatory (ɪkˈsplɪkətərɪ, -trɪ), adjective
  • explicator, 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