Library / English Dictionary

ELABORATE

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Developed or executed with care and in minute detail

Example:

the carefully elaborated theme

Synonyms:

detailed; elaborate; elaborated

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

careful (exercising caution or showing care or attention)

Derivation:

elaborateness (marked by elaborately complex detail)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by complexity and richness of detail

Example:

an elaborate lace pattern

Synonyms:

elaborate; luxuriant

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

fancy (not plain; decorative or ornamented)

Derivation:

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

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Work out in detail

Example:

elaborate a plan

Synonyms:

elaborate; work out

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make more complex, intricate, or richer

Example:

refine a design or pattern

Synonyms:

complicate; elaborate; rarify; refine

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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 3

Meaning:

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

Example:

She elaborated on the main ideas in her dissertation

Synonyms:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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 4

Meaning:

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

Example:

The bee elaborates honey

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

She made me an elaborate and stately courtesy, and said, “As for you, sir—”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was a full-page sketch of a landscape roughly tinted in color—the kind of painting which an open-air artist takes as a guide to a future more elaborate effort.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I see them on this occasion fastened with an elaborate double bow, which is not your usual method of tying them.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Any of various biologically active proteins or toxins elaborated by Bordetella pertussis that cause the symptoms of whooping cough.

(Pertussis Toxin, NCI Thesaurus)

There was no display of gifts, for they were already in the little house, nor was there an elaborate breakfast, but a plentiful lunch of cake and fruit, dressed with flowers.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And with an elaborate sea-salute, this fellow, a long, ill-looking, yellow-eyed man of five and thirty, stepped coolly towards the door and disappeared out of the house.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The populations grew and elaborate churches were constructed.

(Lost Norse of Greenland fuelled the medieval ivory trade, ancient walrus DNA suggests, University of Cambridge)

The data also hint at the presence of an even cooler outer dust belt and may indicate the presence of an elaborate planetary system.

(ALMA Discovers Cold Dust Around Nearest Star, ESO)

I stood for a few minutes with my heart in my boots, wondering whether the whole thing was an elaborate hoax or not, when up came a man and addressed me.

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

The fabrications techniques used to construct microfluidic devices are relatively inexpensive and are amenable both to highly elaborate, multiplexed devices and also to mass production.

(Microfluidics, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)