shed light on

1. Also, throw light on. Clarify or explain, as in I was hoping the professor would shed light on how he arrived at his theory, or Can anyone throw some light on where these plants came from? Originally, from about 1200, these expressions were used literally, in the sense of “illuminate,” but they soon were used figuratively as well.

Related Words

• analyze 
• clear up 
• define 
• formulate 
• interpret 
• resolve 
• simplify 
• spell out