EXPLAIN

excuse, explain

(verb) serve as a reason or cause or justification of; “Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work”; “Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again”

explain, explicate

(verb) make plain and comprehensible; “He explained the laws of physics to his students”

explain

(verb) define; “The committee explained their plan for fund-raising to the Dean”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

explain (third-person singular simple present explains, present participle explaining, simple past and past participle explained)

To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.

To give a valid excuse for past behavior.

(obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.

(obsolete) To unfold or make visible.

(intransitive) To make something plain or intelligible.

Synonyms

• (give a sufficiently detailed report): expound, elaborate, recce

Source: Wiktionary

Ex*plain", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Explained();p. pr. & vb. n. Explaining.] Etym: [L. explandare to flatten, spread out, explain; ex out+plandare to make level or plain, planus plain: cf. OF. esplaner, explaner. See Plain,a., and cf. Esplanade.]

1. To flatten; to spread out; to unfold; to expand. [Obs.] The horse-chestnut is . . . ready to explain its leaf. Evelyn.

2. To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to expound; to unfold and illustrate the meaning of; as, to explain a chapter of the Bible. Commentators to explain the difficult passages to you. Gay. To explain away, to get rid of by explanation. "Those explain the meaning quite "away." Pope.

Syn.

– To expound; interpret; elucidate; clear up.

Ex*plain", v. i.

Definition: To give an explanation.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition