elucidate
verb
Did you know?
In 1974, the discovery of a remarkably intact Australopithecus skeleton elucidated a key moment in human evolution. She was famously nicknamed Lucy in reference to the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” but we’d still love Lucy were it simply an homage to the light she shed. You see, the Latin luc- or lux puts the “light” in many English utterances (including the name Lucy). Take, for instance, lucent (“glowing with light”), luculent (“clear in thought or expression”), luciferous (“bringing light or insight”), lucid (“clear, sane, intelligible”), and elucidate (“to make clear or understandable”). Those last two words come from the Latin lucidus, which literally translates to “lucid.” Lucidus, in turn, comes from the verb lucēre, meaning “to shine.” Elucidating, therefore, can be thought of as the figurative equivalent of shining a light on something to make it easier to see.
Examples of elucidate in a Sentence
David Weigel, semafor.com, 22 Oct. 2025
McLellan’s work also helped elucidate why D25 was so much more potent than palivizumab at preventing infection.
—Tara Haelle, Scientific American, 23 Sep. 2025
The foreign minister’s comments were confusing, but his deputy elucidated them in much clearer terms about the government’s self-conception.
—Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 16 Sep. 2025
The material enhances performance The team elucidated the material’s mechanism through a series of experimental analyses, including solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) spectroscopy, electron spin resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations.
—Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for elucidate
Cite this Entry
“Elucidate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elucidate. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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elucidate
verb
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