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 Carpino retired in April, without ever explaining what was not right in the organization or, based on the standings, repairing it. — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2026 The traditional experience requires waiting on hold, explaining the situation and hoping an agent can help. — Shep Hyken, Forbes.com, 5 July 2026 His better-than-ever serve and greater aggressiveness in his game go a long way toward explaining why Djokovic has a chance of winning a record 25th Grand Slam title next week at Wimbledon, aged 39. — Charlie Eccleshare, New York Times, 5 July 2026 An ambulance was needed, the health administrator told the operator, explaining where emergency responders should go upon arrival at the facility. — Perla Trevizo, ProPublica, 3 July 2026 But with toxic levels of cobalt, the transcription factor is active without low oxygen levels, leading to abnormally high amounts of hemoglobin-carrying red blood cells—explaining the woman’s high hemoglobin levels. — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 2 July 2026 Infographic explaining Euclid's survey ESA The original image was captured in black and white, but color was added using observations from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope located in Hawaii. — CBS News, 24 June 2026 The original is a minor Harding work, Bacon said, explaining why judges might not have recognized Allan’s submission as a re-creation. — News Desk, Artforum, 24 June 2026 Larry Ferazani, General Counsel of the NFL Management Council, penned a letter to Sorsby explaining the league’s decision. — Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 23 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for explaining

Verb

For an oily scalp, more frequent washing may be necessary, or clarifying shampoos may be useful.

— Sherri Gordon, Health, 13 July 2026
Minutes later royal sources counter-briefed, clarifying that Harry had not formally accepted the invite in time, and that the offer had since been withdrawn.

— The Week UK, TheWeek, 8 July 2026

Definition of clarifying

Verb

These figures are considerable for a hardware enterprise, justifying a high valuation.

— Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
And yet at the start of the Mass, a priest read aloud a statement justifying the consecrations as a necessary defense of the faith and criticizing how the Catholic Church today had deviated from tradition.

— ABC News, ABC News, 1 July 2026

Definition of justifying

Verb

That's a key technical level watched and used by traders, illustrating a stock or index's trend.

— Zev Fima,Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 5 July 2026
Wingate weaves this historical horror with a modern-day mystery, illustrating the lasting trauma of children stolen for profit and the unbreakable bond of blood.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 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

Kyiv has also stepped up long-range drone and missile strikes inside Russia, targeting energy, military and logistics infrastructure, demonstrating the progress Ukraine has made in developing domestic strike capabilities.

— Elsa Ohlen, CNBC, 6 July 2026
Boston Consulting Group suggests CEO hopefuls start cultivating a social media presence and demonstrating the ability to represent a company at least five years before expecting to take the top job.

— Rachel Ventresca, Fortune, 5 July 2026

Definition of demonstrating

Verb

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, The Conversation, 10 July 2026
Gartner warns over 40% of agentic AI projects will fail by 2027, attributing cancellations to management issues, not model capabilities.

— Robert J. Szczerba, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026

Definition of attributing

Verb

Managing those demands — simplifying decisions, controlling tempo and conserving energy — may be as much a feature of playing in the heat as the physical strain itself.

— Alan McCall, New York Times, 11 July 2026
The reform also significantly expanded access to medical cannabis by removing it from the country's list of narcotic drugs, simplifying medical cannabis prescribing.

— Dario Sabaghi, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026

Definition of simplifying

Verb

LLMs, for example, are not given robust, explicit prescriptions on grammar, or an overly structured map for interpreting what matters and why about every point of knowledge in their datasets.

— ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 13 July 2026
The murder and its fraught causes are recounted by a Bengali analyst, who is himself interpreting them from the records of a different analyst with connections to Chatterjee’s two living children.

— The New Yorker, New Yorker, 13 July 2026