Word.ws English Dictionary

spell it out

spell it out verb: to provide a simple and understandable explanation.

Verb

spell it out (third-person singular simple present spells it out, present participle spelling it out, simple past and past participle spelled it out or (chiefly UK) spelt it out)

  1. (intransitive) To provide a simple and understandable explanation.
    • I'm sorry but I can't spell it out for you, because the whole issue is not that simple.
    Synonyms:
    explain, explicate
  2. (intransitive) To be explicit, to provide even the obvious details.
    • Let me spell it out for you: you are not welcome here.
    • This marriage is over, do I have to spell it out?
    Synonyms:
    rub it in

Synonyms of spell it out

Forms of spell it out

third-person singular presentspells it out
present participlespelling it out
past participlespelled it out
pastspelled it out
past participle UKspelt it out
past UKspelt it out

Questions about spell it out

What does spell it out mean?
Spell it out means to provide a simple and understandable explanation.
What part of speech is spell it out?
Spell it out is a verb.
What is the past tense of spell it out?
The past tense of spell it out is spelled it out.

Words near spell it out in the dictionary

  1. spell checker
  2. spell checkers
  3. spell checking
  4. spell checks
  5. spell doom
  6. spell it out
  7. spell of weather
  8. spell off
  9. spell offs
  10. spell one's name
  11. spell out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spell it out (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “spell it out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spell_it_out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.