elaboration

American  

[ih-lab-uh-ray-shuhn] / ɪˌlæb əˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

• elaborations
  plural

1. an act or instance of elaborating.

2. the state of being elaborated; elaborateness.

3. something that is elaborated.

4. Psychiatry. an unconscious process of expanding and embellishing a detail, especially while recalling and describing a representation in a dream so that latent content of the dream is brought into a logical and comprehensible order.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-elaboration
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• elaborations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of elaboration

First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin ēlabōrātiōn-, stem of ēlabōrātiō, from ēlabōrāt(us) “worked out” (past participle of ēlabōrāre “to work out, produce through labor”; see elaborate) + -iō -ion

Explanation

Elaboration means "adding details." Kids are famous for answering "good" when asked how school was and "nothing" when asked what they did there. If pressed for elaboration, they might talk about recess, lunch, and even what they learned. Elaboration is the result of going that extra mile, such as when your history teacher asks for five paragraphs on the Fall of Rome, and you write three pages, or when your friend, instead of giving you a regular birthday card, creates a mini-scrapbook with photos and mementos from the past year. As you can see, elaboration takes time and energy because you go into greater detail than usual.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

elaboration elaborations

“Time’s Second Arrow” is an elaboration and defense of that controversial article.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

Roberts wondered whether that phrasing itself suggested confusion, either by counsel or by the trial judge, about whether the objection was then being made or merely marked for later elaboration.

From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2026

Fortunately, clear skies will bless BTS for the live event, although Netflix’s Mussman admits without elaboration, “There was a rain plan.”

From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026

“No,” he said without hesitation or further elaboration.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026

The milpa is an elaboration of this natural situation, unlike ordinary farms, which involve singlecrop expanses of a sort rarely observed in unplowed landscapes.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

"These results help us understand the evolutionary history of horns and antlers and could suggest that differences in other ruminant cranial appendages, like ossicones and pronghorns, are also elaborations on a shared ancestral cranial appendage."

From Science Daily ● May 20, 2024

While trained within the confines of Rampur style - which focused on intricate rhythmic play, fast elaborations and a full-throated throw of voice - Rashid, like most greats, transcended its boundaries.

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2024

“Every movie is a dream,” the husband in “Vortex” muses, and his elaborations on the idea might serve as a running commentary on the movie he’s in.

From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2022

They are in many senses key to L.A.’s story of place but also the enduring elaborations the city continues to tell about itself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2019

In church when she knelt, in the yard when she beat rugs, beneath the peach tree when she picked fruit, Desdemona’s feminine elaborations escaped the constraints of her drab, confining clothes.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Related Words

• amplification