different between explain vs explicable

English

Etymology

From Middle English explanen, from Old French explaner, from Latin explan? (“I flatten, spread out, make plain or clear, explain”), from ex- (“out”) + plan? (“I flatten, make level”), from planus (“level, plain”); see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced Old English ?ere??an.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?sple?n/, /?k?sple?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Verb

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

1. To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
2. To give a valid excuse for past behavior.
3. (obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.
4. (obsolete) To unfold or make visible.
   • April 14, 1684, John Evelyn, a letter sent to the Royal Society concerning the damage done to his gardens by the preceding winter

     The horse-chestnut is […] ready to explain its leaf.

5. (intransitive) To make something plain or intelligible.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• afore-explained
• explain away
• explainer
• mansplain
• please explain
• -splain

Related terms

• explanation
• explanatory

Translations

Further reading

• explain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• explain in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• explain at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

From Latin explicabilis, from explic? (“unfold, explain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?spl?k?b?l/

Adjective

explicable

1. Able to be explained.

Synonyms

• (able to be explained): explainable, explicatable; See also Thesaurus:comprehensible

Antonyms

• inexplicable; See also Thesaurus:incomprehensible

Translations

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin explic?bilis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /?ks.pli?ka.bl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /eks.pli?ka.ble/

Adjective

explicable (masculine and feminine plural explicables)

1. explicable, explainable

   Antonym: inexplicable

Further reading

• “explicable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “explicable” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “explicable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “explicable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Latin explic?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k.spli.kabl/

Adjective

explicable (plural explicables)

1. explicable, explainable

   Antonym: inexplicable

Related terms

• expliquer

Further reading

• “explicable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Galician

Alternative forms

• explicábel

Etymology

From Latin explic?bilis.

Adjective

explicable m or f (plural explicables)

1. explicable, explainable

   Antonym: inexplicable

Related terms

• explicar

Further reading

• “explicable” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin explic?bilis.

Adjective

explicable (plural explicables)

1. explicable, explainable

   Antonym: inexplicable

Related terms

• explicar

Further reading

• “explicable” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.