Elucidate

English

Etymology

From Late Latin elucidatus, past participle of elucidō (“‘clarify’”), from Latin ex- and lucidus (“‘clear’”)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /əˈluː.sɪ.deɪt/, SAMPA: /@"lu:.sI.deIt/

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Verb

Infinitive to Elucidate

Third person singular elucidat

Simple past -

Past participle -

Present participle ing

to Elucidate (third-person singular simple present elucidat, present participle ing, simple past and past participle -)

1. To make clear; to clarify; to shed light upon.
   • 1817, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, ch. 13:

     The business, however, though not perfectly elucidated by this speech, soon ceased to be a puzzle.

   • 1960, "Medicine: Unmasking the Brain," Time, 4 April:

     [P]hysicians at the annual meeting of the American Academy of General Practice were fascinated by a 3-ft. model showing the brain's components in 20 layers of translucent plastic, and wired for colored lights to elucidate some of its workings.

   • 2004, David Bernstein, “Philosophy Hitches a Ride With ‘The Sopranos’,” New York Times, 13 April (retrieved 19 Aug. 2009):

     The new Sopranos volume has 17 essays that examine the television show and elucidate concepts from classical philosophers, including Aristotle, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Sun Tzu and Plato.

Synonyms

• explicate, illuminate

Derived terms

• elucidation
• elucidative
• elucidator

Related terms

• lucid
• lucidity

Translations

make clear

Czech: ozřejmit cs(cs) Danish: uddybe Dutch: verduidelijken nl(nl), verklaren nl(nl), uitleggen nl(nl) Finnish: valaista fi(fi), havainnollistaa fi(fi), selventää fi(fi) French: élucider fr(fr), expliquer fr(fr) German: erläutern, verdeutlichen, erklären

Hebrew: ביאר \ בֵּאֵר he(he) (be'ér), פירש \ פֵּרֵשׁ he(he) (perésh) Italian: chiarire it(it) Russian: разъяснять (raz"jasnjat') Spanish: dilucidar es(es), elucidar es(es) Swedish: klargöra sv(sv), förklara sv(sv)

fr:elucidate io:elucidate it:elucidate kn:elucidate ku:elucidate hu:elucidate ml:elucidate ru:elucidate ta:elucidate te:elucidate vi:elucidate zh:elucidate