expound

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French espondre, from Latin exponere. Doublet of expose.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspaʊnd/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -aʊnd

Verb

expound (third-person singular simple present expounds, present participle expounding, simple past and past participle expounded)

(transitive) To set out the meaning of; to explain or discuss at length
- 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:
  Some day, when you are tired of London, come down to Treadley, and expound to me your philosophy of pleasure over some admirable Burgundy I am fortunate enough to possess.
Synonym: spell out
(intransitive) To make a statement, especially at length.
He expounded often on the dangers of the imperial presidency.

Related terms

exponent
expose
exposition

Translations

explain or discuss at length

Bulgarian: обяснявам (bg) (objasnjavam)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 闡述 (zh), 阐述 (zh) (chǎnshù), 闡明 (zh), 阐明 (zh) (chǎnmíng)
Finnish: selittää (fi)
French: préciser (fr), expliciter (fr)
German: erläutern (de), erklären (de), darlegen (de)
Ido: explikar (io)
Italian: spiegare (it), illustrare (it)

Japanese: 詳説する (しょうせつする, shōsetsu suru)
Maori: whakapūaho
Persian: تفصیل دادن‎ (tafsil dâdan)
Russian: разъясня́ть (ru) impf (razʺjasnjátʹ), разъясни́ть (ru) pf (razʺjasnítʹ), растолко́вывать (ru) impf (rastolkóvyvatʹ), растолкова́ть (ru) pf (rastolkovátʹ), излага́ть (ru) impf (izlagátʹ), изложи́ть (ru) pf (izložítʹ)
Scots: expoond
Serbo-Croatian: objasniti (sh), izložiti (sh), rastumačiti (sh)
Spanish: exponer (es), explayar (es), disertar (es)
Turkish: açımlamak (tr), şerh etmek (tr), teşrih etmek (tr) (obsolete)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Greek: ^{(please verify)} ερμηνεύω (el) (erminévo)
Irish: ^{(please verify)} ceartaigh

Kurdish: şirove kirin, îzah kirin, fesîh kirin, zelal kirin, ron kirin, şayesandin, şayes kirin, şayes dan, sêwer kirin, bas kirin, qal kirin, vegotin, derbirin, wesf dan, saloxandin, salox kirin, teswîr kirin, tesewir kirin
Turkish: açımlamak

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for expound in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)