illustrate
[il-uh-streyt, ih-luhs-treyt]
- to furnish (a book, magazine, etc.) with drawings, pictures, or other artwork intended for explanation, elucidation, or adornment.
- to make clear or intelligible, as by examples or analogies; exemplify.
- Archaic. to enlighten.
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- to clarify one's words, writings, etc., with examples: To prevent misunderstandings, let me illustrate.
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Origin of illustrate
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for illustrate
Contemporary Examples
This video, courtesy of BuzzFeed, helps to illustrate this phenomenon.
This is likely a lowball number but it has the merit to illustrate the tradeoff that raising the minimum wage requires.
His maquettes, or models, illustrate this, too, in their budding materiality.
As if to illustrate the rampant sexism that still exists, hackers threatened to release nude photos of her after her speech.
Humor and historical distance allow me to illustrate how a quack operates in a way that I could not with a contemporary example.
The Strange, True Tale of the Old-Timey Goat Testicle-Implanting 'Governor'Penny Lane
September 16, 2014
Historical Examples
For instance, take a concrete case; so best can we illustrate.
'Tis Sixty Years SinceCharles Francis Adams
Let me illustrate this broad statement with reference to the subject of fears alone.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
The campaigns of Napoleon, with their atmosphere of glory, illustrate this.
A Treatise on Parents and ChildrenGeorge Bernard Shaw
A bird remarkable for the catholicity of its appetite and serving to illustrate that of ours.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
I do it for a rather singular reason, which I will illustrate by a parallel.
Alarms and DiscursionsG. K. Chesterton
illustrate
- to clarify or explain by use of examples, analogy, etc
- (tr) to be an example or demonstration of
- (tr) to explain or decorate (a book, text, etc) with pictures
- (tr) an archaic word for enlighten
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin illustrāre to make light, explain, from lustrāre to purify, brighten; see lustrum
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 illustrate
v.
1520s, "light up, shed light on;" 1610s, "educate by means of examples," back-formation from illustration, and in some cases from Latin illustratus, past participle of illustrare (see illustration). Sense of "provide pictures to explain or decorate" is 1630s. Related: Illustrated; illustrating.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper