flesh out

British  

verb

1. (tr) to give substance to (an argument, description, etc)

2. (intr) to expand or become more substantial

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flesh out Idioms  

1. Also, put flesh on the bones of. Give substance to, provide with details, amplify. For example, The editor told her to flesh out the story, or You need to put flesh on the bones of these characters. This metaphoric expression, alluding to clothing a nude body or adding flesh to a skeleton, was in the mid-1600s put simply as to flesh, the adverb out being added about two centuries later.

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Example Sentences

The latest tranche of emails released by the Justice Department flesh out the extent to which Epstein was involved in Core’s operations and his dealings with its owner, Jennie Enterprise.

From The Wall Street Journal

They flesh out the narrative just slightly enough not to feel entirely superfluous.

From Salon

Navratil is set to flesh out how he plans to reinvigorate the company at an investor day in February.

From The Wall Street Journal

The meeting will cap off a week of negotiations between U.S. officials and their Asian counterparts as they try to flesh out preliminary trade pacts struck in recent months.

From Barron's

Springsteen was planning to flesh out the “Nebraska” demos with his band in New York, and spent a lot of time doing various versions of the songs, but didn’t like the feel of them.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• add to
• appreciate
• augment
• boost
• build up
• complement
• enlarge
• heighten
• increase
• intensify
• raise
• reinforce
• strengthen
• upgrade