Elaborate
/ɪˈlæbəˌreɪt/
adjectiveverbB2
Definition
As a verb, "elaborate" means to explain something in more detail or add extra information to make it clearer. As an adjective, it describes something that is very detailed, careful, or decorated with many parts.
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⚡ See It in Action
Verb: To explain or add more details
- •Please elaborate on your idea so we can understand it better.
- •The teacher asked him to elaborate his answer with examples.
- •Can you elaborate what happened at the meeting?
Adjective: Very detailed or decorated
- •She wore an elaborate dress to the party.
- •The artist made an elaborate painting with many colors and shapes.
- •The plan was elaborate and took many people to complete.
🧲 Make It Stick
- ✓Think of "elaborate" like "explain," but with more details and examples to make things very clear or complete.
- ✓Picture a cake that is decorated with many flowers and colors—that cake is elaborate because it has many details.
- ✓It's the feeling when you tell a story and add many interesting parts so your listener understands better.
- ✓Sounds like "E-lab-or-ate" → imagine a lab where scientists work carefully to add many parts to a project.
- ✓Think of a fancy costume with many parts and colors—this is an elaborate outfit, not simple or plain.
- ✓NOT like "simple" (plain, easy), elaborate means complex and detailed.
- ✓NOT like "brief" (short), elaborate means long and full of information.
- ✓NOT like "explain" (basic telling), elaborate means to give full, careful, and detailed information.
🔄 Try Other Words
- •Expand: to add more information (Use when you want to add more ideas or details in speech or writing)
- •Detailed: having many small parts or facts (Use when describing something with many parts or decorations)
- •Develop: to add more ideas or make something bigger (Use when talking about ideas or plans growing more complete)
🔍 Unboxing
- •Word parts: prefix "e-" (variant of "ex-", meaning "out") + root "labor" (work) + suffix "-ate" (verb or adjective form)
- •Etymology: From Latin "elaborare," meaning to work out carefully or to produce with effort
- •Historical development: First used in English in the 16th century to mean working something out with care or detail
- •Modern usage: Used to mean explaining more fully (verb) or describing something very detailed or decorated (adjective)
💭 Reflect & Connect
•When is it better to elaborate on an idea, and when is it better to keep it simple?
•How can making something elaborate affect the way people understand or feel about it?
Fill in the blanks with the correct word:
1.When you don’t understand, it helps if the speaker ___ more ___ with examples and details.
2.The artist’s ___ design had many colors and shapes that caught everyone’s attention.
3.Instead of a short answer, she gave an ___ explanation that took several minutes.
4.To ___ your plan, you need to add ___ about how it will work step by step.
5.The story was too simple; it needed more ___ to make it interesting.
6.His ___ story helped me see the situation more clearly and understand the problem.
7.The decorations were so ___ that they looked like they took many hours to create.