1. 1闡明、講清楚(書面、正式)

    To elucidate something is to explain it when it is hard to see clearly — by adding the information, examples, or steps that make the meaning come out. It is a formal, slightly verb: essays, lectures, legal writing, and careful journalism use it; friends almost never say it over dinner. The picture inside the word is light: you are making the matter bright enough to understand, not merely repeating it in other words. You elucidate a point, a theory, a clause in a contract. Though actually, it promises more than a short gloss; if you only rename the idea, you have not elucidated it. Teachers sometimes reach for it when they want to sound serious; simpler explain, make clear, or spell out will usually do the same job with less weight.

組成From Late Latin elucidatus, from elucido 'to make clear', built from ex- / e- ('out') + lucidus ('bright, clear, understandable') plus a verb ending. The old picture is bringing the light out of something so it can be seen. French élucider is a cousin. English then uses -ate as the verb ending.

同家族的字

  • lucidshares lucidus, 'clear, bright'; a lucid explanation is easy to see through
  • luciditythe noun for that clearness
  • elucidationthe noun: the explaining, or the explanation given
  • elucidatorythe adjective: serving to make something clear

原始詞典資料3 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,摘錄並精簡格式,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

elucidateverb詞源 1/ɪˈl(j)uːsɪdeɪt/

  • 1

    obsoleteTo make (something) lucid (“bright, luminous; also, clear, transparent”).

  • 2

    To make (something) clear and understandable; to clarify, to illuminate, to shed light on.

    • Let me hear vvhat your ovvn conceptions are of the matter, if they tend to elucidate or reconcile.
    • Dining at Mr. [Samuel] Pepys's, Dr. Slayer shewed us an experiment of a wonderful nature, […] This matter or phosphorus was made out of human blood and urine, elucidating the vital flame or heate in animal bodys.

elucidateadj詞源 2/ɪˈl(j)uːsɪdət/

  • 1

    obsoleteClear, understandable.

    • There vvas not a greater Maſter of Perſpicuity, and elucidate Diſtinctions; vvhich look'd the better in his [John Williams'] Engliſh, that ran ſvveet upon his Tongue, eſpecially being ſet out vvith a graceful Facetiouſneſs, that hit the joint of the Matter: For his VVit, and his Judgment, never parted.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary,已精簡格式;依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用,改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。