ELABORATE

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does elaborate mean? 

• ELABORATE (adjective)
  The adjective ELABORATE has 2 senses:

1. marked by complexity and richness of detail

2. developed or executed with care and in minute detail

  Familiarity information: ELABORATE used as an adjective is rare.

• ELABORATE (verb)
  The verb ELABORATE has 4 senses:

1. add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing

2. produce from basic elements or sources; change into a more developed product

3. make more complex, intricate, or richer

4. work out in detail

  Familiarity information: ELABORATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ELABORATE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by complexity and richness of detail

Synonyms:

elaborate; luxuriant

Context example:

an elaborate lace pattern

Similar:

fancy (not plain; decorative or ornamented)

Derivation:

elaborateness (an ornate appearance; being elaborately (even excessively) decorated)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Developed or executed with care and in minute detail

Synonyms:

detailed; elaborate; elaborated

Context example:

the carefully elaborated theme

Similar:

careful (exercising caution or showing care or attention)

Derivation:

elaborateness (marked by elaborately complex detail)

• ELABORATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they elaborate ... he / she / it elaborates   
Past simple: elaborated   
Past participle: elaborated   
-ing form: elaborating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

dilate; elaborate; enlarge; expand; expatiate; exposit; expound; flesh out; lucubrate

Context example:

She elaborated on the main ideas in her dissertation

Hypernyms (to "elaborate" is one way to...):

clarify; clear up; elucidate (make clear and (more) comprehensible)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "elaborate"):

detail (provide details for)

exposit; expound; set forth (state)

exemplify; illustrate; instance (clarify by giving an example of)

particularise; particularize; specialise; specialize; specify (be specific about)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

They elaborate that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

elaboration (addition of extra material or illustration or clarifying detail)

elaboration (a discussion that provides additional information)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Produce from basic elements or sources; change into a more developed product

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

The bee elaborates honey

Hypernyms (to "elaborate" is one way to...):

create; make; produce (create or manufacture a man-made product)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

elaboration (developing in intricate and painstaking detail)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make more complex, intricate, or richer

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

complicate; elaborate; rarify; refine

Context example:

refine a design or pattern

Hypernyms (to "elaborate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "elaborate"):

involve (make complex or intricate or complicated)

develop (elaborate by the unfolding of a musical idea and by the working out of the rhythmic and harmonic changes in the theme)

sophisticate (make more complex or refined)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

elaboration (developing in intricate and painstaking detail)

elaboration (marked by elaborately complex detail)

elaboration (the result of improving something)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Work out in detail

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

elaborate; work out

Context example:

elaborate a plan

Hypernyms (to "elaborate" is one way to...):

develop; make grow (cause to grow and differentiate in ways conforming to its natural development)

Verb group:

work out; work up (come up with)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

elaboration (developing in intricate and painstaking detail)

 Context examples 

It may be attributed, in part, to the immune response to neoplasm-elaborated proteins.

(Paraneoplastic Polyneuropathy, NCI Thesaurus)

An immune-mediated response to neoplasm-elaborated proteins may be the cause of these syndromes.

(Paraneoplastic syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

The man’s business was a small one, and there was nothing in his house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and such an expenditure as they were at.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Our observations suggest a ball of gas illuminated from the interior, with rays of warm light swirling through stormy patches of dark clouds,” elaborates Lacour.

(GRAVITY instrument breaks new ground in exoplanet imaging, ESO)

mRNA Surveillance works within elaborate cellular mechanisms to ensure accurate gene expression by assessing suitable mRNA quality for translation and prevents the synthesis of truncated or aberrant proteins.

(mRNA Surveillance, NCI Thesaurus)

If she did, she need not coin her smiles so lavishly, flash her glances so unremittingly, manufacture airs so elaborate, graces so multitudinous.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Hard, involved or complicated, elaborate, having many parts.

(Complex, NCI Thesaurus)

A class of interferon elaborated by fibroblasts.

(Interferon Beta, NCI Thesaurus)

A soluble substance elaborated by antigen- or mitogen-stimulated T-LYMPHOCYTES which induces DNA synthesis in naive lymphocytes.

(Interleukin-2, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the joke I could see that it had done service before, and that the whole explanation was simply an elaborate sell.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)