How to use explain in a sentence
40 example sentences · verb
Explain means to make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of. Example: “The issue was explained to the governor in detail.”
Examples of explain by meaning
verbTo make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
- The issue was explained to the governor in detail.
- Nobody would miss them, he explained.1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co....
verbTo make something plain or intelligible.
- She tried to explain but he wouldn’t listen.
- It is easy to modify the account to take this into account, by explaining not just in terms of a set of reasons but in terms of a set of reason–weight pairs.2012, Alexander R. Pruss, “The Leibnizian Cosmological Argument”, in William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, editors, The Blackwell Companion...
- Like their Western counterparts, local media engages in shorthand - it reports rather than explains.2019 July 9, Patrick Gathara, “The problem is not 'negative' Western media coverage of Africa”, in Al Jazeera English
More sentences with explain
- I explained enough for her to understand the issue: there wasn't enough of an economic surplus.From the entry enough
- Look, I'm going to explain what to do, so you have to listen closely.From the entry look
- That was a lot to explain; are you still with me?From the entry with
- The onus is on those who disagree with my proposal to explain why.From the entry onus
- The guide led us around the museum and explained the exhibits.From the entry guide
- The therapist explained how certain muscles adduct the leg toward the body.From the entry adduct
- I explained it, but it is pure conjecture whether he understood, or not.From the entry conjecture
- The book included a brief preface explaining the author's motivations for writing.From the entry preface
- I sat him down and explained to him how things truly work around here.From the entry sit down
- To explain the problem, the teacher referred to an example in another textbook.From the entry refer
- Just to sidetrack a little bit from the subject I will explain my reasoning.From the entry sidetrack
- Once I explained why I needed to know, she was really forthcoming.From the entry forthcoming
- He agreed and understood from the outset, so don't bother explaining again.From the entry outset
- This is way over my head. Can you explain it more simply?From the entry over one's head
- You can explain it until you're blue in the face, but he will never understand.From the entry until one is blue in the face
- Explaining things to you is of no use because you never listen.From the entry no use
- Fred bowled me a googly when he asked me to explain those statistics in the meeting.From the entry bowl a googly
- Practicing expository writing will teach you to explain complex concepts clearly.From the entry expository
- Is that all you’ve got to say? ―By no means. Let me explain further.From the entry by no means
- How can we explain this irruption of young people self-identifying as socialists?From the entry irruption
- Would you like to take a stab at explaining the theory?From the entry take a stab at
- I'll explain it again, and maybe he'll come round to my way of thinking.From the entry come round
- John, in his most poker-faced manner, continued to explain the rules.From the entry poker-faced
- It sort of makes sense the way he explains it, but I still don’t really understand.From the entry sort of
- Okay, let me explain this in layman's terms: no ticket, no train ride.From the entry in layman's terms
- In order to fix your phone, we'll need you to explain detailedly what the issue is.From the entry detailedly
- I decided to leave a soft redirect explaining why the website had been moved.From the entry soft redirect
- I do not understand it; please explain it to me in detail.From the entry in detail
- I didn't understand that. Could you explain it again more digestibly?From the entry digestibly
- He explained away an especially peculiar sighting with another helping of good old swamp gas.From the entry swamp gas
- This is the letter in which he explains his decision.From the entry which
- He then explained that tungsten has the highest melting point, and the highest boiling point, of all known elements.From the entry tungsten
- His tone was apologetic as he explained what had happened.From the entry apologetic
- Could you explain that in layman's terms?From the entry term
- I do not propose to discuss it any further. - Please, let me explain just a little further.From the entry further
Meaning of explain
- verb To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
- verb To give the reason for, justification for, or cause of.
- verb To make flat, smooth out.
Questions about explain in a sentence
- How do you use explain in a sentence?
- Explain is used as a verb. For example: “The issue was explained to the governor in detail.”
- What is a short sentence with explain?
- “Nobody would miss them, he explained.”
- What does explain mean?
- Explain means to make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: explain (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use explain in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/explain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.