explainer

noun

ex·​plain·​er ik-ˈsplā-nər 

plural explainers

: a person or thing that explains something: such as

a

: a person who makes something understandable

Modern day presidents must be good explainers of a complex world …

—Jonathan Alter et al.

b

: an article, podcast, graphic, etc., that explains something complex or not widely understood : an in-depth treatment of a topic

… a whizzy economics explainer titled "Ways & Means" …

—Sana Krasikov

Each half-hour episode contained a big explainer of a complicated issue. The list of topics sounds like the arcane scraps from the cutting-room floor of most newsrooms—the amount of hidden sugar in food, civil forfeiture, the false hopes of lotteries, the failure of the American government to safeguard people who served as interpreters in Iraq and Afghanistan.

—David Carr

Inside, the issue contains a long explainer piece on how the subprime mess came to be and how it wreaked havoc on Citi, Wall Street and especially Merrill.

—Yvette Kantrow

Examples of explainer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Here's a brief explainer on the turmoil. —Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 10 Nov. 2025

Newfound interest in the Epstein case has propelled Wolff, 72, to an unlikely degree of social media stardom, as people just tuning in to the yearslong legal saga flock to his frank, straight-to-camera explainer videos. —Graph Massara, semafor.com, 6 Nov. 2025

If an organic search carries a topic, teams may tweak on-page details, strengthen category pages, and connect related explainers that answer logical follow-ups. —Malana Vantyler, Ascend Agency, 6 Nov. 2025

Being buried in dry science explainers is part of what makes those concepts—nonlocality, entanglement, black hole gravity—difficult to understand. —Literary Hub, 4 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for explainer

• abstainer
• campaigner
• complainer
• container
• coplanar
• detainer
• maintainer
• nonplanar
• retainer
• sustainer
• entertainer
• gainer