different between explain vs stammer

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 Middle English stameren, from Old English stamerian, from Proto-West Germanic *stamr?n, from Proto-Germanic *stamr?n? (“to stammer”). Compare German stammeln, Dutch stameren, Old Norse stammr. Doublet of stumble.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?stæm?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?stæm?/
• Rhymes: -æm?(?)

Verb

stammer (third-person singular simple present stammers, present participle stammering, simple past and past participle stammered)

1. (intransitive) To keep repeating a particular sound involuntarily during speech.
2. (transitive) To utter with a stammer, or with timid hesitancy.

   He blushed, and stammered a few words of apology.

   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi:

     The high school had a send-off in my honour. It was an uncommon thing for a young man of Rajkot to go to England. I had written out a few words of thanks. But I could scarcely stammer them out. I remember how my head reeled and how my whole frame shook as I stood up to read them.

Synonyms

• stutter

Translations

Noun

stammer (plural stammers)

1. The involuntary repetition of a sound in speech.

Translations

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “stammer”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• stremma

Danish

Noun

stammer c

1. indefinite plural of stamme

Verb

stammer

1. present of stamme

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

stammer m

1. indefinite plural of stamme

Verb

stammer

1. present tense of stamme

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• stammar

Noun

stammer m or f

1. indefinite feminine plural of stamme