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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Explain \Ex*plain"\, verb (used without an object) To give an explanation.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Explain \Ex*plain"\ ([e^]ks*pl[=a]n"), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Explained}([e^]ks*pl[=a]nd"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Explaining}.] [L. explandare to flatten, spread out, explain; ex out + plandare to make level or plain, planus plain: cf. OF. esplaner, explaner. See {Plain},a., and cf. {Esplanade}.]
1. To flatten; to spread out; to unfold; to expand. [Obs.]
The horse-chestnut is . . . ready to explain its leaf. --Evelyn.
2. To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to expound; to unfold and illustrate the meaning of; as, to explain a chapter of the Bible.
Commentators to explain the difficult passages to you. --Gay.
{To explain away}, to get rid of by explanation. ''Those explain the meaning quite away.'' --Pope.
Syn: To expound; interpret; elucidate; clear up.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
explain
verb
1: make palin and comprehensible; "He explained the laws of physics to his students" [syn: {explicate}]
2: define; "The committe explained their plan for fund-raising to the Dean"
3: serve as a reason or cause or justification of; "Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work"; "Her recent divorce amy explain her reluctance to date again" [syn: {excuse}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
149 Moby Thesaurus words for "explain": absolve, account, account for, acquit, aid, allegorize, analyze, answer, bottom, break down, clarify, clear, clear the way, clear up, condone, construe, crack, cry sour grapes, debug, decipher, decode, define, delineate, demonstrate, demythologize, describe, destigmatize, detail, disclose, discourse, disentangle, divine, do, do justice to, dope, dope out, ease, elucidate, enlighten, euhemerize, exculpate, excuse, exemplify, exonerate, expedite, explain away, explicate, exposit, expound, extenuate, facilitate, fathom, figure out, find out, find the answer, find the solution, get, get across, get over, get right, give reason for, give the meaning, grease, grease the ways, grease the wheels, guess, guess right, harangue, hasten, have it, help along, hit it, hold forth, illuminate, illustrate, interpret, justify, lecture, legitimate, legitimatize, loose, lubricate, make clear, make it clear, make out, make plain, make way for, moralize, oil, open the lock, open the way, open up, palliate, pave the way, plumb, point a moral, popularize, preach, prepare the way, psych, psych out, purge, put across, put over, puzzle out, quicken, rationalize, ravel, ravel out, read a lesson, rehabilitate, reinstate, remove friction, resolve, restore, riddle, run interference for, sermonize, shed light upon, show, show how, show the way, simplify, smooth, smooth the way, soap the ways, solve, sort out, speed, spell out, throw light upon, unbar, unblock, unclog, undo, unfold, unjam, unlock, unravel, unriddle, unscramble, untangle, untwist, unweave, vindicate, vulgarize, warrant, work, work out
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