Word of the Day

: March 13, 2022

elucidate

verb ih-LOO-suh-dayt

What It Means

Elucidate means "to make something that is hard to understand clear or easy to understand."

// The author elucidates complex ideas to a general audience.

See the entry >

elucidate in Context

"He hopes to develop future experiments to elucidate how exercise influences metabolisms…." — Gretchen Reynolds, The New York Times, 21 Dec. 2021

Did You Know?

Elucidate comes from the Latin term lucidus, which means "lucid." Lucidus, in turn, comes from the verb lucēre, meaning "to shine." So elucidating can be thought of as the figurative equivalent of shining a light on something to make it easier to see.