Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Explanatory |
ExplanatoryAdjective1. Serving or intended to explain or make clear; "explanatory notes"; "an explanatory paragraph". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "explanatory" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Etymology: Explanatory \Ex*plan"a*to*ry\, adjective. [Latin expression explanatorius.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Intelligibility | Graphic; expressive; (meaning); illustrative; (explanatory). |
Interpretation | Adjective: explanatory, expository; explicative, explicatory; exegetical; construable. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Explanatory |
| English words defined with "explanatory": Adminicle, Adminicular ♦ disquisition ♦ Epexegetical, Explanative, Explanatoriness, Explicative ♦ Hermeneutical ♦ Postil ♦ Scholium, subhead, subtitle. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "explanatory": Committee Allocation ♦ EDITOR, INDEX, explanatory variable ♦ general interdependent system ♦ Marks in Grammar and Printing, motion-picture commentator ♦ nonlinear regression, non-linear regression ♦ Parenthetical Expressions ♦ stepwise regression. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "explanatory": Glottis. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | What would you think the Statue of Liberty was if you happened upon it standing in a field, no explanatory plaque included? (The Longest Day of the Century; writing credit: J.D. Kiggins) | |
Clever | Adult Education Topic: Fundamental differences between the laundry hamper and the floor. Pictures and explanatory graphics. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Explanatory Image of the First Explorer VI Picture of Earth.Credit: NASA. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Abraham Lincoln | I fear explanations explanatory of things explained. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
US Constitution | 1791 | The president of the convention transmitted it to Congress, with a resolution stating how the proposed Federal Government should be put in operation, and an explanatory letter. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Some clinical waste is classified as special waste, and therefore subject to additional controls under the Special Waste Regulations 1996. The Environment Agency has assessed types of clinical waste, and those considered to be Special Waste are set out in a Special Waste Explanatory Note Health Care Waste (SWEN001), available from the Environment Agency. (references) | |
Human Rights | Ghana | On July 6, the Attorney General issued a draft "National Reconciliation Act 2001" and an explanatory memorandum. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | The treaty concluded with Chili and approved by the Senate at its last session was also ratified by the Chilean Government, but with certain additional and explanatory articles of a nature to have required it to be again submitted to the Senate. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Explanatory" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.86% of the time. "Explanatory" is used about 614 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 98.86% | 607 | 10,589 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.14% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Total | 100.00% | 614 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "explanatory": explanatory dictionary ♦ explanatory note ♦ explanatory variable. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "explanatory": explanatory-normative. | |
Ending with "explanatory": normative-explanatory. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
essay explanatory | 4 |
explanatory note | 4 |
explanatory paragraph | 3 |
10 chapter explanatory financial information note | 2 |
explanatory self | 2 |
explanatory financial note statement | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "explanatory"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | sqarues (illuminating, illuminative), shpjegues (covering, declaratory, elucidative, elucidatory, explicative, explicatory, exponent, expository, interpretative, parenthetic, parenthetical). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | تفسير (commentary, construction, exegesis, exegetics, explanation, explication, layout, reading), تعليلى, تأويلى. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | разяснителен (elucidative, elucidatory), обяснителен (apologetic, apologetical, covering, declaratory, explainable, explicative, explicatory, exponent, expositive, expository, interpretative), пояснителен. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 说明 (Caption, illustrate, illustrated, Illustrating, illustrative). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | vysvìtlující (explicative, explicatory, qualifying). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | effekt-variabel (effect variable, explanatory variable, predicated variable, predictor), sammendrag af begrundelsen (explanatory summary), NOTEX (Explanatory Notes, NOTEX), meddelelse (announcement, explanatory note, message, notice, notification), ledsagende skrivelse (explanatory report), forklaringspsykose (explanatory delusion), forklarende variabel (cause variable, effect variable, explanatory variable, predicated variable, predictor), forklarende rapport (explanatory report), forklarende note (explanatory note), Forklarende Bemaerkninger (Explanatory Notes, NOTEX), bemyndigelse til at afgive forklaring (explanatory power), begrundelse (explanatory memorandum, explanatory statement, justification). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | verklarende variabele (cause variable, effect variable, explanatory variable, predicated variable, predictor), verklarend onderzoek (explanatory study), verklaarde variabele (effect variable, explanatory variable, predicated variable, predictor), Toelichtingen (Explanatory Notes, NOTEX), toelichting (account, explanation, explanatory memorandum, explanatory report, explanatory statement), toelichtend rapport (explanatory report), samenvatting van de toelichting (explanatory summary), NOTEX (Explanatory Notes, NOTEX), memorie van toelichting (Explanatory Memorandum, Explanatory Statement). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | توضیحی (Expository), روشنگر, شرحی (Interpretive), بیانگر. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | selittävä. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | explicatif (explicative, explicatory). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | erklärend (declarative, declaring, explaining, expository, expounding, illustrative, interpretative, melding, professing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | εξηγητικόσ (expository, interpretative), επεξηγηματικόσ (illustrative). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מבאר (commentator, explaining), מסביר (expository), "סברתי (informative), באורי. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | megmagyarázó (elucidative, elucidatory), magyarázó (explicative, exponent, interpreter), értelmező. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | esplicativo (explicative, expositive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 凡例 (explanatory notes, introductory remarks). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | せつめいぶ" (explanatory note), せつめいてき とうせい (explanatory adequacy), "とばがき (captions, explanatory notes, foreword to a collection of poems, preface), "とわりがき (explanatory note), は"れい (counterexample, example, explanatory notes, introductory remarks, precedent), ちゅうかい (agency, annotation, explanatory notes, gloss, intermediation), ちゅうき (annotation, commentary, explanatory note, middle period, palsy, paralysis), ちゅう (air, annotation, before, comment, companion, explanatory note, explanatory notes, mediocre, medium, midair, sake, same kind, similar kinds, space). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 설명 (Elucidating, Elucidative, Explaining, Explanation, Illustrating). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | soilsheragh (enlightening), soilshee (descriptive, illustrative), meenee. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | explanatoryay explicativo (explicatory), explicativamente, explanatório. (various references) explicativ (exponent, expositive, expository), lãmuritor (expositive, illustrative). (various references) толковый (clear, intelligible, on the ball), объяснительный (declaratory, elucidative, elucidatory, explicative, explicatory, exponent, expositive, expository, interpretative). (various references) obrazložavajući, koji objašnjava. (various references) explicativo (elucidating, explicative, explicatory), sobrante (balance, else, escapage, left over, nikal, odd, over, spare, spoil, surplus, wastage, waste), aclaratorio (illuminating). (various references) förklarande (declarative, declaratory, elucidative, elucidatory, explicative, explicatory, expositive, expository, interpretative). (various references) açıklayıcı (elucidatory, expository, illuminating, illuminative, illustrative, revealing). (various references) dьюьndiriюli. (various references) тлумачний (interpretative), пояснювальний (declaratory, elucidative, elucidatory, explicative, explicatory, exponent, expositive, expository, illustrative, interpretative). (various references) để thanh minh, để giảng giải, để giảng (explicative, explicatory), để giải nghĩa để giải thích. (various references) esboniadol (exegetical, expository), eglur.haol. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "explanatory": nonexplanatory. (additional references) | |
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"Explanatory" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: expalanatory, expanatory, explainatory, explanitory. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "explanatory" (pronounced ikspla"nutô'rē) |
| 6 | -n u t ô' r ē | discriminatory, hallucinatory, nondiscriminatory, signatory. |
| 5 | -u t ô' r ē | accusatory, aleatory, ambulatory, anticipatory, articulatory, auditory, celebratory, circulatory, compensatory, conciliatory, confirmatory, confiscatory, congratulatory, contributory, declaratory, defamatory, depilatory, depository, derogatory, dilatory, dormitory, excretory, exculpatory, expiratory, exploratory, incantatory, inflammatory, inhibitory, interrogatory, investigatory, laboratory, laudatory, lavatory, mandatory, migratory, obligatory, observatory, oratory, oscillatory, participatory, predatory, preparatory, prohibitory, purgatory, reformatory, regulatory, repository, respiratory, retaliatory, revelatory, statutory, territory, transitory. |
| 4 | -t ô' r ē | desultory, multistory, repertory, understory. |
| 3 | -ô' r ē | allegory, category, outlawry, promissory. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-e-l-n-o-p-r-t-x-y" | |
-2 letters: operantly, planetary. | |
-3 letters: aleatory, ornately, parental, parlante, paternal, patronal, patronly, prenatal, relaxant, taxpayer. | |
-4 letters: anolyte, anorexy, apetaly, aplenty, apnoeal, apteral, apteryx, elytron, entropy, explant, operant, oxalate, peartly, penalty, peytral, planate, plantar, planter, platane, plenary, polenta, preanal, prolate, pronate, pronely, protean, protyle, pteryla, replant. | |
-5 letters: antler, antral, aortae, aortal, apneal, apnoea, areola, aroynt, arpent, atonal. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-e-l-n-o-p-r-t-x-y" | |
+2 letters: explanatorily. | |
+3 letters: nonexplanatory. | |
+4 letters: interparoxysmal. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)45 78 70 6C 61 6E 61 74 6F 72 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references). -..- .--. .-.. .- -. .- - --- .-. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000101 01111000 01110000 01101100 01100001 01101110 01100001 01110100 01101111 01110010 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)E x p l a n a t o r y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0045 0078 0070 006C 0061 006E 0061 0074 006F 0072 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3990827867806786818491 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Historic 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Speeches 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
