1
as in clarifying
to make plain or understandable
a pamphlet that explains the medical procedure in language that any layperson can understand
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
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
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Recent Examples of explaining
The film opens just as its predecessor ended, with a handy recap explaining how Ne Zha and his angelic counterpart, Ao Bing, ended up in need of bodily reincarnation.
—
Derek Robertson, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2025
Amorim has been clearer and more consistent in explaining his tactical ideas and vision for the future.
—Carl Anka, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2025
About The Daily Money Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY, breaking down complex events, providing the TLDR version, and explaining how everything from Fed rate changes to bankruptcies impacts you.
—Betty Lin-Fisher, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2025
Video shows Prescott moving toward Carter while explaining himself, just before Carter retaliated.
—Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 5 Sep. 2025
This early ancestor and its thumbnails may be key to explaining how rodents eventually took over the world.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 4 Sep. 2025
Judge Brad Astrowsky opened the hearing by explaining its purpose.
—Perry Vandell, AZCentral.com, 4 Sep. 2025
Ahuja then provided some context on the film’s sale, explaining that Sony developed the film as part of the studio’s output deal with Netflix.
—Andrew McGowan, Variety, 4 Sep. 2025
Looking more broadly at the effect of unions on nonunion pay, the effect goes up, with the decline in union membership explaining a third of the total increase in wage inequality for men.
—Laura Clawson, JSTOR Daily, 1 Sep. 2025
Derek Robertson, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2025
Amorim has been clearer and more consistent in explaining his tactical ideas and vision for the future.
—Carl Anka, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2025
About The Daily Money Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY, breaking down complex events, providing the TLDR version, and explaining how everything from Fed rate changes to bankruptcies impacts you.
—Betty Lin-Fisher, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2025
Video shows Prescott moving toward Carter while explaining himself, just before Carter retaliated.
—Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 5 Sep. 2025
This early ancestor and its thumbnails may be key to explaining how rodents eventually took over the world.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 4 Sep. 2025
Judge Brad Astrowsky opened the hearing by explaining its purpose.
—Perry Vandell, AZCentral.com, 4 Sep. 2025
Ahuja then provided some context on the film’s sale, explaining that Sony developed the film as part of the studio’s output deal with Netflix.
—Andrew McGowan, Variety, 4 Sep. 2025
Looking more broadly at the effect of unions on nonunion pay, the effect goes up, with the decline in union membership explaining a third of the total increase in wage inequality for men.
—Laura Clawson, JSTOR Daily, 1 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for explaining
Verb
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Building in a few minutes at the end of meetings for clarifying questions shows that understanding is a priority.—
Dr. Diane Hamilton,
Forbes.com,
6 Sep. 2025
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The last two years have been clarifying, and not only in unpleasant ways.—
Jack Sheehan
September 4,
Literary Hub,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass said there was no emergency justifying the military.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
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Bob felt that Clark Gilmer was 'justifying the harm' done to trans people in her comments about King.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
1 Sep. 2025
Verb
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While the details of the case are particular to one individual, experts say the outcome is far too common, illustrating the need for greater vigilance of, and advocacy around, a threat that kills a person every six minutes, according to the National Blood Clot Alliance.—
Paul Sisson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 Sep. 2025
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That's why, for example, the US government has funded a series of Landsat satellites since 1972 to create an uninterrupted data catalog illustrating changes in global land use.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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This entails the messy but necessary work of (finally) consolidating and rationalizing your tech portfolio to weed out duplicative or unneeded systems and applications.—
Forrester,
Forbes.com,
20 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Soon, Geoffrey Hinton and his graduate students began demonstrating that neural networks, trained on large datasets and run on GPUs, could do things—like classify images into a thousand different categories—that would have been impossible in the late 1980s.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
3 Sep. 2025
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Fahey Rush was often responsible for demonstrating how the company’s TV audiences — in the linear era, some of the industry’s youngest — behaved and consumed media and advertising.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Kentucky reported at least 1,223 work zone crashes in 2024, with officials attributing seven deaths and 298 injuries to those crashes.—
Leo Bertucci,
Louisville Courier Journal,
4 Sep. 2025
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Sure, Ghost has his creative license to put that in a skit without anyone attributing it directly to him, but the skit was funny without joking about spousal abuse.—
Andre Gee,
Rolling Stone,
26 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Years of designing lessons, engaging learners, and simplifying complex topics translate directly into their new environment.—
Sho Dewan,
Forbes.com,
30 Aug. 2025
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But that’s simplifying things a bit.—
Alec Lewis,
New York Times,
27 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Many CEOs will have no choice but to devote their efforts to guessing, interpreting and trying to influence what the president wants, rather than toiling on behalf of their shareholders and customers.—
Senior Fellow,
MSNBC Newsweek,
2 Sep. 2025
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But you’d be forgiven for interpreting it as a reaction to those events.—
Katie Rife,
IndieWire,
2 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Explaining.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/explaining. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
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