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

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

Full explainer for each scenario ➤ TIDBIT: Some TikTok users have been flocking to another Chinese app called RedNote. —Cate Martel, The Hill, 15 Jan. 2025

Vox’s daily explainer podcast has an episode all about the app and another one that breaks down a TikTok meme, OK boomer. —Vox Staff, Vox, 10 Jan. 2025

Also on the links: Gabby Herzig has a helpful explainer about TGL, the new golf simulator league with the sport’s biggest stars, which premieres tonight. —Chris Branch, The Athletic, 7 Jan. 2025

Automated code explainers are advanced tools that use various techniques, including AI and machine learning, to automatically interpret and explain the code. —John Werner, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined above