These words refer to attempts at removing confusion or making something understandable. Clarify usually pertains to words or actions intended to make clear an earlier event, situation, announcement or state of affairs: a statement isused to clarify his seemingly contradictory views on the proposed merger; contradictory answers that he made no attempt to clarify ; adding details to the sketch that would clarify the spatial relationships; a plot structure that needed clarifying . Elucidate is a more formal substitute for clarify . While the root of clarify refers literally to clearness, the root of elucidate refers to light. To elucidate something is to throw light on it. The word’s use reflects this in indicating any enlightening process that puts an end to confusion: searching for the clues that would elucidate the mystery; psychological theories drawn up to elucidate human behaviour. Thus elucidate in its very formality has a wider range of application than clarify . Explicate is more restricted and specific in use than the foregoing. It refers to a point-by-point discussion of a complex matter, especially as in the paraphrase and analysis of a literary text: asking each student to explicate the difficult poem; popular books that attempt to explicate Einstein’s theories.

Explain and interpret are far less formal than the previous words and have wider ranges of use. A person may explain a thing by describing its form or structure, tracing its origins and development, showing its operation or use, or citing its reasons and the relations of its parts. Hence an expert might elucidate one detail of a complex matter without explaining the whole. In its most informal sense, explain suggests a verbal attempt to justify actions or to make them understood: trying to explain why he had stayed out so late. When it is closer in meaning to elucidate , it may suggest a total falling into place of a causal sequence: experiments designed to explain the mechanics of heredity; the discovery of several notes that explained his homicidal behaviour. Interpret is like explicate in suggesting a point-by-point treatment of an earlier situation, pronouncement or event so that it can be understood; it is like elucidate in implying the use of knowledge or insight to cast light on some baffling problem or puzzle, though it differs in stressing personal judgement or understanding: to interpret a symbolic dream; to interpret an obscure piece of writing. In a limited sense, interpret may refer to oral translation from one language to another: A skilled linguist was needed to interpret the statements of the visiting head of state. Less specifically, the word may imply any sort of after-the-fact analysis, in which case it may point to a less exhaustive or technical approach than explicate : a journalist who interpreted economic trends for the layman.