Adjacent Words

Explanation definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EXPLANA'TION, n. [L. explanatio.] The act of explaining, expounding or interpreting; exposition; illustration; interpretation; the act of clearing from obscurity and making intelligible; as the explanation of a passage in scripture, or of a contract or treaty.
1. The sense given by an expounder or interpreter.
2. A mutual exposition of terms, meaning or motives, with a view to adjust a misunderstanding and reconcile differences. Hence, reconciliation, agreement or good understanding of parties who have been at variance. The parties have come to an explanation.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a statement that makes something comprehensible by describing the relevant structure or operation or circumstances etc.; "the explanation was very simple"; "I expected a brief account" [syn: explanation, account]
2: thought that makes something comprehensible
3: the act of explaining; making something plain or intelligible; "I heard his explanation of the accident"

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 14th century 1. the act or process of explaining 2. something that explains <gave no explanation>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the act or an instance of explaining. 2 a statement or circumstance that explains something. 3 a declaration made with a view to mutual understanding or reconciliation. Etymology: ME f. L explanatio (as EXPLAIN)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Explanation Ex`pla*na"tion, n. [L. explanatio: cf. OF. esplanation.] 1. The act of explaining, expounding, or interpreting; the act of clearing from obscurity and making intelligible; as, the explanation of a passage in Scripture, or of a contract or treaty. 2. That which explains or makes clear; as, a satisfactory explanation. 3. The meaning attributed to anything by one who explains it; definition; interpretation; sense. Different explanations [of the Trinity]. --Bp. Burnet. 4. A mutual exposition of terms, meaning, or motives, with a view to adjust a misunderstanding, and reconcile differences; reconciliation; agreement; as, to come to an explanation. Syn: Definition; description; explication; exposition; interpretation; detail. See Definition.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(explanations) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you give an explanation of something that has happened, you give people reasons for it, especially in an attempt to justify it. She told the court she would give a full explanation of the prosecution's decision on Monday... 'It's my ulcer,' he added by way of explanation. N-COUNT: also of/in N 2. If you say there is an explanation for something, you mean that there is a reason for it. The deputy airport manager said there was no apparent explanation for the crash... It's the only explanation I can think of. = reason N-COUNT: oft N for n 3. If you give an explanation of something, you give details about it or describe it so that it can be understood. Haig was immediately impressed by Charteris's expertise and by his lucid explanation of the work. N-COUNT: oft N of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Interpretation, elucidation, illustration, exposition, description, explication. 2. Solution, account, warrant, justification, deduction, key, clavis. 3. Mutual understanding.

Moby Thesaurus

abstraction, accomplishment, account, allegorization, analysis, answer, ascertainment, body of theory, case, case in point, cause, clarification, clearance, clearing, clearing up, commentary, construction, cracking, criticism, decipherment, decoding, definition, delineation, demonstration, demythologization, denouement, description, destigmatization, destigmatizing, determination, disclosure, disentanglement, doctrinairism, doctrinality, doctrinarity, editing, elucidation, emblem, emendation, end, end result, enlightenment, euhemerism, example, exculpation, excuse, exegesis, exemplar, exemplification, explication, exponent, expose, exposition, expounding, finding, finding-out, grounds, illumination, illustration, instance, interpretation, issue, justification, key, light, meaning, mere theory, motive, object lesson, outcome, pretense, pretext, purgation, purging, rational ground, rationale, rationalization, reason, reason why, rehabilitation, reinstatement, relevant instance, representative, resolution, resolving, restoration, result, riddling, signification, simplification, solution, solving, sorting out, speculation, stated cause, symbol, tentative explanation, the big idea, the idea, the whatfor, the wherefore, the why, theoretic, theoretical basis, theoretical structure, theoretics, theoria, theoric, theorization, theory, type, typical example, underlying reason, unified theory, unlocking, unraveling, unriddling, unscrambling, unspinning, untangling, untwisting, unweaving, upshot, vindication, working, working-out