explicit
[ik-splis-it]
- fully and clearly expressed or demonstrated; leaving nothing merely implied; unequivocal: explicit instructions; an explicit act of violence; explicit language.
- clearly developed or formulated: explicit knowledge; explicit belief.
- definite and unreserved in expression; outspoken: He was quite explicit as to what he expected us to do for him.
- described or shown in realistic detail: explicit sexual scenes.
- having sexual acts or nudity clearly depicted: explicit movies; explicit books.
- Mathematics. (of a function) having the dependent variable expressed directly in terms of the independent variables, as y = 3x + 4.Compare implicit(def 4).
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Origin of explicit
1605–15; < Latin explicitus unfolded, set forth, variant past participle of explicāre. See explicate
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
preciseaccuratedefinitivestraightforwardcategoricalclear-cutclearunequivocaldefinitepositivecertainobviousexactcorrectabsoluteclean-cutdirectdistinctexpressfrankExamples from the Web for explicit
Contemporary Examples
More than 20 million people tuned in to a broadcast network drama and saw two gay men have explicit sex.
Meanwhile, big dollar advertising campaigns have taken an explicit rainbow-hued slant.
Corporations Are No Longer Silent on LGBT IssuesDecember 24, 2014
Instead, everyone agrees it has simply reinscribed too big to fail as explicit law.
And he offered no explicit reminder that the NYPD had been saving thousands of black lives, along with many others.
Rowling is careful, explicit even, to note that this woman was not “the real Dolores Umbridge.”
J.K. Rowling Pens the Greatest Horror Story Ever: Dolores Umbridge Was RealKevin Fallon
October 31, 2014
Historical Examples
The political officer was firm, and his terms were explicit.
The Story of the Malakand Field ForceSir Winston S. Churchill
I am afraid I shall be abrupt, but it is necessary to be explicit.
Tales And Novels, Volume 8 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
I could not comprehend his meaning, and therefore requested that he would be explicit.
Beaux and Belles of EnglandMary Robinson
I will be explicit; I will use the indicative mood, present tense.
The First ViolinJessie Fothergill
The marshal's orders were explicit: they must be across the Meuse that night, cost what it might.
The DownfallEmile Zola
explicit1
- precisely and clearly expressed, leaving nothing to implication; fully statedexplicit instructions
- graphically detailed, leaving little to the imaginationsexually explicit scenes
- openly expressed without reservations; unreserved
- maths (of a function) having an equation of the form y=f (x), in which y is expressed directly in terms of x, as in y=x 4 + x + zCompare implicit (def. 4)
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin explicitus unfolded, from explicāre; see explicate
explicit2
- the end; an indication, used esp by medieval scribes, of the end of a book, part of a manuscript, etc
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Word Origin
Late Latin, probably short for explicitus est liber the book is unfolded (or complete); shortened by analogy with incipit
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for explicit
adj.
c.1600, from French explicite, from Latin explicitus "unobstructed," variant past participle of explicare "unfold, unravel, explain," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + plicare "to fold" (see ply (v.1)).
"Explicitus" was written at the end of medieval books, originally short for explicitus est liber "the book is unrolled." As a euphemism for "pornographic" it dates from 1971.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper