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
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use elaborate in a sentence
Pelosi also suggested the House could play a bigger role in the standoff but did not elaborate.
Live updates: Georgia secretary of state issues correction, saying certification of its general election results is still under way | John Wagner, Colby Itkowitz, Michelle Lee | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostThe cases were traced back to three sources, Rooks said, declining to elaborate further.
Maryland, with 15 more players and its coach positive for coronavirus, cancels Michigan State game | Emily Giambalvo | November 19, 2020 | Washington PostIt was not uncommon for a Virginia ham to be featured alongside elaborate continental meat pastries.
George Washington’s 1795 Thanksgiving celebrated liberty. But the chef behind the feast had none. | Ramin Ganeshram | November 19, 2020 | Washington PostSome of those deals are focused just on affiliate sales, while others are more elaborate, featuring everything from original content production to augmented reality projects.
‘An aggressive strategy’: Verizon Media Group keeps pouring resources into commerce | Max Willens | November 18, 2020 | DigidayInstead of a complete reenactment of the big wedding, we see just enough to understand that what the world saw on live TV was an elaborate mockery of the fairy tale it pretended to be.
The Charles and Diana saga weighs heavy on ‘The Crown,’ but Gillian Anderson’s Thatcher is a triumph | Hank Stuever | November 12, 2020 | Washington Post
"The support could be military or logistics," he said, without elaborating.
Elaborating, he said that in the past his view of capitalism was it would “only take money” and then there was “exploitation.”
At American Enterprise Institute, NeoCons Say ‘Hello, Dalai’ | Eleanor Clift | February 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“Oh, but it has worked, it has been very successful,” he replied, without elaborating.
I Reenlisted to Return to Afghanistan, Only to Find Myself in Kuwait | Jonathan Raab | April 22, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST“Kari Ann Peniche popped,” Weintraub said, elaborating on his theory.
I think he did the right thing by not elaborating about the future of his marriage.
Mistral spent seven years in elaborating his second epic, as he did in writing his first.
Frdric Mistral | Charles Alfred DownerHis impulsiveness keeps him from elaborating his sketches into long novels, such as Spektor and Dienesohn have produced.
For the theologian of this kind, dogma arises from the need which the believer has of elaborating his own religious thought.
The War Upon Religion | Rev. Francis A. CunninghamShe has a peculiar genius for organization, not only in elaborating minute detail, but in the grasp of a coherent whole.
The Riddle of the Sands | Erskine ChildersThese exercises are varied by swelling the high tone, by changing the vowels, and by elaborating the descending scale passages.
The Psychology of Singing | David C. Taylor
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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