EXPLAINING Synonyms: 50 Similar and Opposite Words

explaining

verb

present participle of explain

as in clarifying

to make plain or understandable a pamphlet that explains the medical procedure in language that any layperson can understand

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in justifying

to give the reason for or cause of can you explain your very odd behavior at the wedding reception?

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of explaining The first spends the answer explaining that management never provided the necessary materials, no experienced coworker offered assistance and expectations were unrealistic. — Mark Murphy, Forbes.com, 26 July 2026 Like with Meta, Microsoft on Wednesday evening needs to do a better job explaining its AI strategy and justifying the massive levels of capex spend. — Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 26 July 2026 Greene posted an Instagram video of Lew explaining its floral makeup. — Francesca Gariano, PEOPLE, 25 July 2026 These two hypervirulent bacterial samples had key mutations in genes that produce the bacterium’s capsule, explaining their gloopiness. — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 23 July 2026 The agency hasn’t released additional guidance explaining how school districts should handle testing for students who opt out. — Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 July 2026 Below, during a conversation with THR, Cretton also discusses how Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle/The Punisher was achieved in a PG-13 context, before explaining why a particular Spider-Man shot required at least 65 takes. — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 23 July 2026 This investment in hand movement takes raccoon learning abilities to the next level – explaining why Toronto paid roughly US$24 million to develop raccoon-proof trash bins. — Kelly Lambert, The Conversation, 23 July 2026 Try explaining to the average Chicago taxpayer that the city is reacquiring its meters but very little will change on the streets. — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 19 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for explaining

Verb

Establishing Clear Ground Rules With Reporters The importance of clarifying standards is critical.

— Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
For lawyers working to defend and expand anti-BDS legislation in court, PEN America’s new boycott position is clarifying.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 July 2026

Definition of clarifying

Verb

Organizations that approach agentic AI this way build foundational capabilities that span dozens of workflows and shift the ROI conversation from justifying each agent individually to achieving compounding returns across the enterprise.

— Joe Locandro, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
Another issue is the characterization of the country’s Citizenship by Investment Program, which the White House cited in justifying the travel restrictions.

— Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 18 July 2026

Definition of justifying

Verb

Multiple studies using different approaches reached broadly consistent conclusions, illustrating how scientists conducting attribution studies can build confidence in the conclusions by drawing on several independent lines of evidence.

— Deepti Singh, The Conversation, 24 July 2026
Marx also discussed forestry as another example illustrating the same process.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026

Definition of illustrating

Verb

But the notion of ends rationalizing the means is problematic on many levels, most of all because without boundaries and structure there is chaos, and few have the same means and leverage at their disposal.

— Vahe Gregorian July 7, Kansas City Star, 7 July 2026
As the show began to wrap up, Goldberg aimed to try to tie in the book, asking Vance about rationalizing his Catholic faith with a hard-line stance on immigration.

— Meg Kinnard, Chicago Tribune, 16 June 2026

Definition of rationalizing

Verb

Sessions explored historical philanthropic strategies, future technologies like AI, and the importance of research in demonstrating HBCU impact.

— Marybeth Gasman, Forbes.com, 26 July 2026
The new initiative expands that work by demonstrating how multiple electrical technologies can operate together within a complete aircraft energy architecture.

— Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 26 July 2026

Definition of demonstrating

Verb

Confidence is also relatively high for attributing the contributions of climate change for large-scale heavy rainfall events, tropical cyclones, and droughts in some regions.

— Deepti Singh, The Conversation, 24 July 2026
But if our estimates stand, our figure is substantially lower than some more sensational reports, which may not be correct in attributing bigger hikes in electric bills to data centers.

— Daniel Yue, Fortune, 14 July 2026

Definition of attributing

Verb

The technology is expected to improve charging performance while reducing the size of charging systems, simplifying installation and lowering long-term operating costs.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 24 July 2026
Kroger has responded by lowering prices on thousands of everyday staples, simplifying promotions, and testing broader price reductions as shoppers increasingly favor predictable everyday value over complicated coupon programs.

— Hank Cardello, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026

Definition of simplifying

Verb

The native vision capability in Kimi K3 enables visual-to-code generation and supports real-world software engineering tasks that require interpreting screenshots and visual layouts.

— Gerui Wang, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026
The repetition of spotting weak arguments in a memo, interpreting ambiguous data, and anticipating stakeholder’s concerns, built judgment.

— Marlo Lyons, Harvard Business Review, 24 July 2026