Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ELUCIDATE
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pronounce
ELUCIDATE:
Say it "eh LOO sid ate."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
There's Gru getting a bright idea. A brilliant idea. His idea is becoming clear, vivid, or lucid. In a second, he'll elucidate his idea for the audience:
Elucidate, meaning "to make clear, to shine a light on," is one of those metaphorical words that equate light and seeing with knowing and understanding. Same with bright, brilliant, clear and so on.
That metaphor is everywhere. It's a primary metaphor: one that connects the sensory world (light and seeing) with the mental world (knowing and understanding). For more on this idea of primary metaphors, check out Metaphors We Live By.
See if you can recall some more words that tap into that primary metaphor of light and vision as knowledge:
1. Something p__luc_d is clear: see-through, or easy to understand.
2. Someone p__sp______us is clear-sighted: able to see and understand things; sharp, wise, and observant.
3. Someone m____c has their eyes shut, or is blind: they refuse to "see" (know or understand) what they should.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
Inside "elucidate," you can see the word "lucid," which means "light, bright, or clear." It traces back to the Latin lucere, "to shine."
To elucidate something is to make it clear and easy to understand.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Verb, the transitive kind: "His lecture elucidated the theory for us;" "The documentary elucidates the city's complex history."
Other forms:
Elucidated, elucidating, elucidation; elucidator(s); elucidative (or, if you prefer, elucidatory).
how to use it:
"Elucidate" is a formal, common word with a positive tone.
To say that someone has elucidated something is to say that they've thrown a helpful light on it, clarifying it and making it less dark, less murky, or less mysterious.
Talk about people (and their speeches and writings) that elucidate things, like ideas, theories, mysteries, reasons, causes and effects, processes, histories, principles, patterns, etc.
You can also talk about someone elucidating the meaning of something, the relevance or importance of something, the relationship or the difference between things, etc.
examples:
"The ideas he elucidated were explosive... he railed against many of the abiding tenets of German soccer. "
— Rory Smith, New York Times, 8 December 2020
"Derek Streat's 4-year-old daughter contracted a life-threatening autoimmune disorder that inflames blood vessels... he started combing the web in a desperate search for information that could elucidate his daughter's mysterious illness."
— Zina Moukheiber, Forbes, 30 September 2011
has this page helped you understand "elucidate"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "elucidate" without saying "clarify" or "shed light on."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "In a video, (someone) elucidates (some topic, theory, or process that used to seem confusing)."
Example: "In a video, Gracie Terzian elucidates the Circle of Fifths: why it's structured the way it is, and how to memorize it."
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game for this month is Rhyming Puzzles!
I'll give you a description of something, and you name it in a rhyming phrase.
Longtime readers will recognize this game from years past, when we grappled with silly answers like "shopworn popcorn," "hidebound guide hound," "cow chow kowtow," "unflagging pun bragging," and "catch-as-catch-can Etch A Sketch fan."
The answers will get longer as the month goes on. To see the clue, click the link. To see the answer, scroll all the way down. Enjoy!
Try this one today:
In your home, in a kind of hammock-like net that hangs from the wall, you've displayed your collection of Popples toys from the 1980s. Your collection is expanding, and for the sake of consistency in your display, you've tried to repurchase another of the same net that you've already got--but it's no longer available. You've had to order a lookalike, a double, a very similar copy of the original net that you hope will be a pretty good ______-______ ___________.
Two words, four syllables each. The first word has one hyphen.
Clue: use this word.
review this word:
A. IMMOLATE: to burn or destroy, often for some noble cause.
B. OBFUSCATE: to make dark, make hard to see, or make hard to understand.
C. RELEGATE: to move down to a lower or less-important role, or to hand off to someone else.
2.
In a playful choice of words, Richard Panek wrote in Scientific American that "A correct value [of the rate of the universe's expansion] might help elucidate the nature of _____."
A. dark energy
B. ordinary matter
C. further research
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
On vocabulary...
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.
From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Elucidate, meaning "to make clear, to shine a light on," is one of those metaphorical words that equate light and seeing with knowing and understanding. Same with bright, brilliant, clear and so on.
Inside "elucidate," you can see the word "lucid," which means "light, bright, or clear." It traces back to the Latin lucere, "to shine."
Part of speech:
"Elucidate" is a formal, common word with a positive tone.
"The ideas he elucidated were explosive... he railed against many of the abiding tenets of German soccer. "
Explain the meaning of "elucidate" without saying "clarify" or "shed light on."
Fill in the blanks: "In a video, (someone) elucidates (some topic, theory, or process that used to seem confusing)."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |