mindmap root((解释)) explain implies making plain or intelligible what is not immediately obvious and clearly known: the doctor ~ed what the operation would entail. expound implies a careful, often elaborate or learned explanation: a professor ~ing the theory of relativity. explicate adds to expound the idea of a developed or detailed analysis of a topic: a passage that critics have been inspired to ~ at length. elucidate stresses the throwing of light upon as explanation, exposition, or illumination: a newspaper report that ~d the reason for the crime. interpret adds to explain the implication of the need for imagination or sympathy or special knowledge: ~s the play as an allegory about good and evil.