elaborate
adjective · verb
Simple meaning
Detailed and carefully planned, with many parts.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihlabruhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪˈlæbɹət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Intricate, fancy, flashy, or showy.
Complex, detailed, or sophisticated.
verb
transitive
Тo develop in detail or complexity.
(intransitive, sometimes followed by the prepositions on or upon) To expand/enlarge in detail.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Intricate, fancy, flashy, or showy.
Used this way, elaborate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Confusing or complicated
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- complicate , more formal, and heavier in everyday conversation
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use elaborate
- “She elaborated on the main ideas in her dissertation.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.