explanatory

adjective ex·plan·a·to·ry \ ik-ˈspla-nə-ˌtȯr-ē \

|Updated on: 23 Jun 2018

Examples: explanatory in a Sentence

Definition of explanatory

: serving to explain

explanatory notes

—

explanatorily

play \ik-ˌspla-nə-ˈtȯr-ə-lē\ adverb

See explanatory defined for English-language learners

See explanatory defined for kids

Examples of explanatory in a Sentence

There are explanatory notes at the front of the book.
the explanatory section has as its heading “What the New Tax Changes Mean”

Recent Examples of explanatory from the Web

The simple stuff is, in truth, fairly self-explanatory.

— rory smith, New York Times, "For Germany, a Defeat Both Stunning and Foreboding," 17 June 2018
Kevin De Bruyne - Belgium The Belgian has probably been the best midfielder in the world this season, so his place on this list is self-explanatory.

— SI.com, "7 Players Who Will Smash it at World Cup," 12 June 2018
Grants are money that does not have to be paid back, whereas loans do, and on top of that there’s work-study, another term that is not self-explanatory, and which some letters don’t explain.

— adam harris, The Atlantic, "The Confusing Information Colleges Provide Students About Financial Aid," 6 June 2018
Few music genres are as self-explanatory as bounce, and New Orleans diva Big Freedia is the queen of it all.

— justin jacobs, Indianapolis Star, "Dead & Company and Imagine Dragons shows among top things to do in Indianapolis this June," 30 May 2018
Most of those are self-explanatory save for that last one; non-infectious keratitis describes corneal inflammation that happens due to something like wearing your contacts for too long or making other common contact lens mistakes.

— korin miller, SELF, "9 Health Issues That Can Cause Sensitivity to Light," 5 June 2018
One hapless tourist took pictures of the explanatory panels, unable to stand still and actually read them, before being swept up and moved along, up to the next masterpiece hidden from proper view.

— raf casert, chicagotribune.com, "A dare: Skip the Colosseum and Vatican on a trip to Rome?," 1 June 2018
The point isn’t to come up with perfect, fully explanatory word that covers all cases.

— dieter bohn, The Verge, "A better metaphor for technology," 30 May 2018
The video, released by the Pentagon with explanatory narration, includes more than 10 minutes of drone footage, file tape and animation that wasn’t made public last week when the military released a portion of the final report on the October attack.

— Washington Post, "Niger drone video shows US forces fighting for their lives," 18 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'explanatory.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.