elucidate

elucidate

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈluː.sɪ.de͡ɪt/
• (US) enPR: ĭ-lo͞o'-sĭ-dāt

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Verb

elucidate (third-person singular simple present elucidates, present participle elucidating, simple past and past participle elucidated)

1. (transitive) 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

Derived terms

• elucidation
• elucidative

• elucidator
• elucidatory

Related terms

• lucid
• lucidity

Translations

make clear

Chinese: Mandarin: 阐明 (zh), 说明 (zh), 解释 (zh) Czech: ozřejmit Danish: uddybe Dutch: verduidelijken (nl), verklaren (nl), uitleggen (nl), verhelderen (nl), clarificeren Finnish: valaista (fi), havainnollistaa (fi), selventää (fi) French: élucider (fr), expliquer (fr) German: erläutern (de), verdeutlichen (de), erklären (de) Hebrew: ביאר \\ בֵּאֵר‎ (be'ér), פירש \\ פֵּרֵשׁ‎ (perésh) Hungarian: megvilágít (hu)

Italian: chiarire (it) Maori: whakapūaho, whakamahuki, whakamārama, whakamāori Norwegian: klargjøre Persian: روشن کردن‎ (fa) (rovšan kardan) Polish: objaśniać (pl), wyjaśniać (pl) Portuguese: elucidar (pt), esclarecer (pt) Quechua: chiqaqchay Russian: разъяснять (raz"jasnjat') Spanish: dilucidar (es), elucidar (es) Swedish: klargöra (sv), förklara (sv), kasta ljus över (sv), belysa (sv)

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Italian

Verb

elucidate

1. second-person plural present indicative of elucidare
2. second-person plural imperative of elucidare

Participle

elucidate

1. feminine singular of the past participle of elucidare

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Latin

Verb

ēlūcidāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of ēlūcidō