Make Your Point: EXPLICATE

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pronounce EXPLICATE:

EX pluh kate

connect this word to others:

The word explicate looks a bit like explain, and means almost the same thing, so you might wonder: do they have the same etymology?

Not exactly. Etymologically speaking, to explicate is to fold out, and to explain is to flatten out. For either word, I imagine the hero of a story unrolling a map, showing his companions a plan. Explaining the plan and explicating the plan are almost the same thing.

See if you can recall two words that truly are closely tied to the word explicate:

1. Something explic__ is clearly expressed in plain, direct language, and is therefore easy to understand. (Or, it's something profane that's expressed clearly.)

2. Something i_explic____ is so unclear, so complicated, or so mysterious that it doesn't make sense, or it can't be understood or explained.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Explicate" has Latin bits that literally mean "to fold outward," or less literally, "to explain."

To explicate something is to make it very clear, or to describe or analyze it in detail.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "They explicated their ideas;" "They explicated their concerns."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "explicated" and "explicating."

The noun for the activity or the product of explicating is "explication." And the noun for the people who explicate is "explicators."

Things that explicate, or that help you explicate, are "explicatory."

Things that can be explicated are "explicable." And things that can't are "inexplicable."

how to use it:

Pick the common, formal, scholarly-sounding word "explicate" when you need to emphasize how someone is really getting into the academic nitty-gritty of some specific idea.

By saying that someone explicates an idea, you're saying that the someone is being thorough and the idea is complex.

Talk about people explicating ideas and theories, factors and influences, relationships and correlations, systems and arrangements, goals and processes, etc.

examples:

"The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Business reporter Charles Duhigg explicates a seemingly mundane but potent motivator. Useful for marketers, bosses, product developers, and anyone with an unused gym membership."
— Leigh Buchanon, Inc, 18 June 2013

"To astronomers, black holes are dark monsters with gravity so strong that they can consume stars... At a black hole's center, matter shrinks to infinite density and the known laws of physics break down. But to physicists bent on explicating those fundamental laws, black holes are a Coney Island of mysteries and imagination."
— Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 11 October 2022

has this page helped you understand "explicate"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "explicate" without saying "explain" or "elucidate."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) spends (a certain amount of time) explicating (some complicated idea, process, or history)."

Example 1: "The cosmetic chemist Michelle Wong spends 32 minutes on YouTube explicating the proper way to interpret ingredient lists on beauty products. It's excellent."

Example 2: "Pinchin spends several pages explicating [the two main characters'] personal animus, which ostensibly stems from an arcane debate over the location of bluefin spawning grounds but seems really to be about how scientists should position themselves vis-a-vis industry."
— Ben Goldfarb, Salon, 2 August 2023

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 "Spot the Sharper Image."

Which of the two items described below is a real one that you can order from the Sharper Image catalog, and which one did I invent? Scroll to the bottom to see which one is real!

Try this set today:

Item A: Motorized Inflatable Flamingo Set. "Pursue your poolmates at up to 2 mph."

Item B: Rechargeable Salt and Pepper Mill Set. "LED light for precise seasoning."

review this word:

1. Etymologically speaking, the precise opposite of EXPLICATE ("to fold out") would be IMPLICATE ("to fold in"), but in modern usage the two words are unrelated. As we use it today, EXPLICATE is the opposite of

A. ABSORB.
B. SUMMARIZE.
C. OVERSIMPLIFY.

2. When a student explicates a poem, or when John Oliver explicates book banning in the United States, in both cases the task is to essentially _____.

A. eviscerate the subject, taking it apart so as to expose its flaws
B. unpack the subject, folding its intricacies outward so as to be easily seen
C. defend the subject, highlighting its artistic features or social advantages

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.

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