elaborate

[ih-lab-er-it, ih-lab-uh-reyt]

adjective

1. worked out with great care and nicety of detail; executed with great minuteness.

   elaborate preparations; elaborate care.

   Synonyms: painstaking
   Antonyms: simple

2. marked by intricate and often excessive detail; complicated; ornate.

verb (used with object)

elaborated, elaborating 

1. to work out carefully or minutely; develop to perfection.

   Synonyms: improve, refine

2. to add details to; expand.

3. to produce or develop by labor.

4. Physiology.,  to convert (food, plasma, etc.) by means of chemical processes into a substance more suitable for use within the body.

verb (used without object)

elaborated, elaborating 

1. to add details in writing, speaking, etc.; give additional or fuller treatment (usually followed by on orupon ).

   to elaborate upon a theme or an idea.

   Synonyms: improve, refine

elaborate

/ ɪˈlæbərətɪv /

adjective

1. planned or executed with care and exactness; detailed

2. marked by complexity, ornateness, or detail

verb

1. (intr; usually foll by on or upon) to add information or detail (to an account); expand (upon)

2. (tr) to work out in detail; develop

3. (tr) to make more complicated or ornate

4. (tr) to produce by careful labour; create

5. (tr) physiol to change (food or simple substances) into more complex substances for use in the body

Other Word Forms

• elaborately adverb
• elaborateness noun
• elaborative adjective
• elaborator noun
• nonelaborate adjective
• nonelaborately adverb
• nonelaborateness noun
• nonelaborating adjective
• nonelaborative adjective
• quasi-elaborate adjective
• quasi-elaborately adverb
• self-elaborated adjective
• superelaborate adjective
• superelaborately adverb
• superelaborateness noun
• unelaborate adjective
• unelaborately adverb
• unelaborateness noun
• unelaborated adjective
• well-elaborated adjective
• elaboration noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of elaborate¹

First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin ēlabōrātus (past participle of ēlabōrāre ) worked out, equivalent to ē- intensive prefix + labōr- “work” + -ātus adjective suffix; e- ¹, -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of elaborate¹

C16: from Latin ēlabōrāre to take pains, from labōrāre to toil

Synonym Study

Elaborate, labored, studied apply to that which is worked out in great detail. That which is elaborate is characterized by great, sometimes even excessive, minuteness of detail: elaborate preparations for a banquet. That which is labored is marked by excessive, often forced or uninspired, effort: a labored style of writing. That which is studied is accomplished with care and deliberation, and is done purposely, sometimes even having been rehearsed: a studied pose.

Example Sentences

The theme, less ambitious than the Met's elaborate fashion cues, is "pink" -- inspired by the "colours and light of India" as the museum's exhibition on "Ancient India: living traditions" draws to a close.

Read more on Barron's

On the course, elaborate tombs of the city's past rulers poke through tangled trees that are home to peacocks, troops of monkeys and mongooses.

Read more on Barron's

But according to Puech, this was all a lie—one of many Freymond spun over the years to create an elaborate fiction around his client.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He said he's had to be innovative and design pieces that look elaborate but have a reduced quantity of gold in them.

Read more on BBC

The "elaborate" and "complex" fraud, which began in 2013, is thought to be one of the biggest conspiracies of its kind in the UK.

Read more on BBC