explanation 
\\ hat is ealled the explanation of a phenomenon by the 
.li.v.'very of its cause, is simply the completion of its de- 
scription by the disclosure of some intermediate details 
which had escaped observation. 
. //. Lewes, Aristotle, p. 76. 
We suppose the cryptograph to be an English cipher, be- 
cause, as we say, this explains the observed phenomena 
that there are about two dozen characters, that one occurs 
much more frequently than the rest, especially at the ends 
of words, etc. The explanation is : Simple English ciphers 
have certaiji peculiarities : this is a simple English cipher : 
hence, this necessarily has these peculiarities. This ex- 
planation is present to the mind of the reasoner, too ; so 
much so, that we commonly say that the hypothesis is 
adopted for the sake of the explanation. C. S. Peirce. 
2. That which is adduced as explaining or 
seeming to explain ; specifically, a meaning or 
interpretation assigned ; the sense given by an 
expounder or interpreter. 
The ill effects that were like to follow on those different 
explanations [of the Trinity] made the bishops move the 
king to set out injunctions requiring them to see to the re- 
pressing of error and heresy with all possible zeal. 
Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Times, an. 1698. 
3. An inquiry into language used, actions, or 
motives, with a view to adjust a misunderstand- 
ing and reconcile differences ; hence, reconcili- 
ation or reestablishment of good understanding 
between persons who have been at variance. 
= Syn, 1. Explication, elucidation, description. 
explanative (eks-plan'a-tiv), a. [< L. as if 'ex- 
planatinis,<. expUmare, pp. explanatus, explain : 
see explain.] Explanatory. 
What follows ... is explanatine of what went before. 
Warburton, Julian's Attempt to Rebuild the Temple, ii. 5. 
explanatorily (eks-plan'a-to-ri-li), adv. In an 
explanatory manner ; by way of explanation ; 
with a view to explain. 
"All . . . were absorbed in the hatter," said the Profes- 
sor explanatorily. Philadelphia Time*, June 2, 1885. 
explanatoriness (eks-plan'a-to-ri-nes), . The 
quality of being explanatory. ' Bailey, 1727. 
explanatory (eks-plan'a-to-ri), a. [< LL. ex- 
planatorius, < L. explanare, pp. explanatus, ex- 
plain : see explain.] Serving to explain; con- 
taining explanation ; of the nature of explana- 
tion: as, explanatory notes. 
To give a long catalogue of pictures and statues with- 
out explanatory observations appeared absurd. 
Eustace, Tour in Italy, I., Pref., p. ix. 
These explanatory ideograms, which in Egyptian and 
Cuneiform are called determinatives, in Chinese go by the 
name of keys, radicals, or primitives. 
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 30. 
explatet, v. t. See cxplait. 
expleitt, exploited *. and v. See exploit. 
explement (eks'ple-ment), . [< L. explemen- 
tum, that which fills up, a filling, < explere, fill 
up: see expletion. Cf. complement.] Ingeom., 
the amount by which an angle falls short of 
four right angles. 
expletiont (eks-ple'shon), H. [< L. expletio(n-), 
a filling up, a satisfying, < expletus, pp. of ex- 
plere, fill up, < ex, out, + plere, fill: see plenty. 
Cf. completion, depletion.] A fulfilling; accom- 
plishment; fulfilment; satisfaction. 
They conduce nothing at all to the perfection of men's 
natures, nor the expletion of their desires. 
Killingbeck, Sermons, p. 374. 
expletive (eks'ple-tiv), . and n. [= F. exple- 
tif= Pr. expletiu = Sp. Pg. expletiro = It. es- 
pletivo, < LL. expletivus, serving to fill out (ap- 
plied to conjunctions, etc.), < L. expletus, pp. of 
explere, fill up : see expletion.] I. a. Serving 
to fill up ; added to fill a vacancy, or for fac- 
titious emphasis: specifically used of words. 
See II., 2. 
There is little temptation to load with expletive epithets. 
Johnson, Addisou. 
II. . 1. Something used to fill up; some- 
thing not necessary bxit used for embellish- 
ment. 
The custard-pudding which Mrs. Quick had tossed up, 
adorned with currant-jelly, a gooseberry tart, with other 
ornamental expletives of the same kind. 
Graves, Spiritual Quixote, ix. 15. 
She ever promised to be a mere expletive in the creation. 
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xcii. 
2. In rhet. and gram., a word or syllable which 
is not necessary to the sense or construction, 
or to an adequate description of a thing, but 
which is added for rhetorical, rhythmical, or 
metrical reasons, or which, being once neces- 
sary or significant, has lost notional force. Ex- 
pletives of the former kind are usually trite adjectives, 
added, as in feeble prose or verse, for the mere sound or 
to fill out a line, or else irrelevant words or terms used 
for factitious emphasis, as in profane swearing. Exple- 
tives of the latter kind are usually particles like the in- 
troductory there, used without local reference, and the 
auxiliary do, used as in the first tine of the quotation from 
Pope. 
2082 
Expletives their feeble aid do join, 
And ten low words oft ereep in one dull line. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 346. 
Circuitous phrases and needless expletives distract the 
attention and diminish the strength of the impression 
produced. H. Spencer, Style. 
What are called expletives in rhetorical treatises are 
grammatically allied to the interjections, though widely 
differenced from them by the want of meaning, which the 
interjection is never without. 
G. P. Marsh, Lects. on Eng. Lang., xiii. 
3. Hence, by euphemism, an oath ; an exclama- 
tory imprecation : as, his conversation was gar- 
nished with expletives. 
He who till then had not known how to speak unless he 
put an oath before and another behind to make his words 
have authority, discovered that he could speak better 
and more pleasantly without such expletives than he had 
ever done before. Southey, Bunyan, p. 18. 
expletively (eks'ple-tiv-H), adv. In the man- 
ner of an expletive. 
expletory (eks'ple-to-ri), a. [< L. as if *exple- 
twius, < explere, pp. expletus, fill up : see ex- 
pletion.] Serving to fill up ; superfluous ; ex- 
pletive. 
Dr. Garden is so fond of this expletory embellishment 
as even to introduce it twice in the same verse. 
British Critic, Feb., 1797. 
explicable (eks'pli-ka-bl), a. [= F. explicable 
= Sp. explicable = Pg. explicavel = It. esplica- 
bile, < L. explicabilw, < explicare, unfold, expli- 
cate: see explicate.] Capable of being unfold- 
ed, explained, or made clear or plain ; capable 
of being accounted for ; admitting explanation. 
A beauty not explicable is dearer than a beauty which 
we can see to the end of. Emerson, Essays, 2d ser., p. 21. 
The obvious fact that there has been a gradual increase 
in variety and elevation of living beings, from the earlier 
Seriods until now, is often adduced as an evidence of 
erivation, hut is equally explicable on the supposition of 
a creative plan. Danson, Nature and the Bible, p. 143. 
explicableness (eks'pli-ka-bl-nes), n. The qual- 
ity of being explicable or explainable. Bailey, 
1727. 
explicand (eks-pli-kand'), . [< L. explications, 
ger. of explicare, explicate : see explicate.] A 
fact or speech to be explained. 
explicate (eks'pli-kat), v. ; pret. and pp. ex- 
plicated, ppr. explicating. [< L. explicatus, pp. 
of explicare (> It. esplicare = Sp. Pg. Pr. expli- 
car = F. expliquer), unfold, spread out, set in 
order, treat, explain, explicate, < ex, out, + pli- 
care, fold: see plait, pleat, plicate. From the 
other form of the pp. of explicare, namely ex- 
licitus, come E. explicit, exploit, exploit, q. v.] 
trans. If. To unfold ; expand ; open. 
They explicate the leaves and ripen food 
For the silk labourers of the mulberry wood. 
Sir R. Blackmore. 
2. To unfold the meaning or sense of ; explain ; 
interpret. 
He might have altered the shape of his argument, and 
explicated them better in single scenes. 
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, ii. 1. 
We may easily suppose him [Christ] to teach us many 
a new truth which we knew not, and to explicate to us 
many particulars of that estate which God designed for 
man in his first production, but yet did not then declare 
to him. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I., Pref., p. 14. 
There is no truth concerning God which is not explicated 
by truths of our own moral consciousness. 
Buthnell, Forgiveness and Law, p. 14. 
For a logic mainly concerned with inference i. e., with 
explicating what is implicated in any given statements 
concerning classes there is nothing more to be done but 
to ascertain agreements or disagreements. 
J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 78. 
II. intrans. To give an explanation. 
Let him explicate who hath resembl'd the whole argu- 
ment to a Comedy, for Tragical!, he sayes, were too omi- 
nous. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
explicate (eks'pli-kat), a. [< L. explicatus, pp. : 
see the verb.] Unfolded ; explicated. 
Thus was his person made tangible, and his name ut- 
terable, and his mercy brought home to our necessities, 
and the mystery made explicate, at the circnmcisipn of 
this holy babe. Jer. Taylor, Great Exemplar, i. 5. 
explication (eks-pli-ka'shon), n. [= F. expli- 
cation = Sp. explication = Pg. explicacao = It. 
esplicazione, < L. explicatio(n-), < explicare, un- 
fold, explain: see explicate.] 1. The act of 
unfolding or opening. 
Theology may be described as the explication and articu- 
lation of the idea of God, or the interpretation of Nature, 
Man, and History, through that idea. 
Contemporary Rev., LI. 203. 
2. Explanation ; especially, an exposition of 
the meaning of any sentence or passage. 
The exposition and explication of authors, which resteth 
in annotations and commentaries. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 256. 
Explications of every material difficulty in the text, in 
notes at the bottom of each page. Goldsmith, Criticisms. 
explicitness 
A declaration is called an <s/>fi< i nt;, l/> \\heri the predicate 
or denning member indeterminately evolves only some of 
the characters belonging to the subject. It is called an 
exposition when the evolution of the notion is continued 
through several explications. ,s//- H'. Hamilton. 
it. espncanvo, \ LI. as 11 cxjineanruii, ^ expti- 
care, pp. explicatus, unfold, explicate: see ex- 
plicate.] Serving to explicate, or unfold or ex- 
plain; tending to make clear or intelligible; 
explanatory. Also explicatory. 
Thought is, under this condition, merely explicative or 
analytic. Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions, p. 578. 
Explicative judgment, in the Kantianlngic, a judgment 
which does no more than explicitly declare what is im- 
plicitly contained in the notion of the subject ; an analy ti- 
cal judgment ; an essential proposition. 
explicator (eks'pli-ka-tor), . [= F. explica- 
teur = Pg. explicador = It. esplicatore, < L. ex- 
plicator, < explicare, unfold, explicate : see 
explicate.] One who unfolds or explains; an 
expounder. 
The supposition of Epicurus and his explicator Lucre- 
tius, and his advancer Uassendus. 
Sir M. Hale, Orig. of .Mankind, p. 10. 
explicatory (eks'pli-ka-to-ri), a. [< explicate + 
-ory.] Same as explicative. 
Hereupon . . . are grounded those evangelical com- 
mands, explicatory of this law, as it now standeth in force. 
Barrow, Works, I. xxv. 
explicit 1 (eks-plis'it), a. [= F. explicite= Sp. Pg. 
explicito = It. esplicito, < L. explicitus, pp. of ex- 
plicare, unfold, explain, etc., the later pp. ex- 
plicatus beingmore common: see explicate and 
exploit.] 1. Open to the understanding; ex- 
press; clear; not obscure or ambiguous: op- 
posed to implicit: as, explicit instructions. 
All that Leibnitz effected was therefore to render ex- 
plicit what had been implicit in the argument of Locke. 
. //. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, I. 408. 
The language of the proposition was too explicit to ad- 
mit of doubt. Bancroft. 
2. Plain; open; unreserved; having no dis- 
guised meaning or reservation; outspoken: 
applied to persons : as, he was explicit in his 
terms. 
He that curses in bis heart shall die the death of an ex- 
plicit and bold blasphemer. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 200. 
Seeing that my informant was determined not to be ex- 
plicit, I did not press for a disclosure. 
Barham, Ingoldshy Legends, I. 181. 
Explicit differentiation. See di/erentiation. Ex- 
plicit function, in alg., a function whose value is given 
in terms of the independent variable or variables. Thus, 
if )/ = x5 -f ax* -f bx* + ex'* + dx + e , y is an explicit func- 
tion of x, while x is an implicit function of y. Brande. 
Explicit proposition or declaration, one in which the 
words, in their common acceptation, express the true 
meaning of the person who utters them, and in which 
there is no ambiguity or disguise. =Syn. Explicit, Express; 
definite, determinate, positive, categorical, unambiguous, 
unmistakable. Explicit means clear and definite; express 
means clear, definite, and emphatic. Explicit (literally, 
unfolded) directions are detailed enough to leave no room 
for mistake. An express prohibition is one that is clearly 
and emphatically laid down. 
If you place yourselves as I directed, you shall hear his 
explicit declaration. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, v. 
An express command, under penalty, to deliver his head 
in the view of Angelo. Shall., M. for M., iv. 2. 
explicit 2 (eks'pli-sit), v. impers. [Orig. an abbr. 
of L. explicitus (est liber), the book is unfolded 
or ended : explicittis, pp. of explicare, unfold, ar- 
range; but later understood as a 3d sing. pres. 
ind.: see second extract.] It is finished or com- 
pleted : a word formerly inserted at the conclu- 
sion of a book, in the same way as finis. See 
etymology. 
The Liber Festivalis of Caxton concludes with "Ex- 
plicit: Emprynted at Westminster, Ac., mcccclxxxiij." 
Johnson. 
The title of the work was written at the end of the roll ; 
and at the same place was recorded the number of col- 
umns and lines, <rri x oi, which it contained probably for 
the purpose of estimating the price. To roll and unroll 
was *<;> and cf tiAeir, plicare and explicare ; the work 
unrolled and read to the end was the liber explicitly*. 
Hence comes the common explicit written at the end of a 
work ; and from the analogy of incipit liber in titles, the 
word was afterward taken for a verb, and appears in such 
phrases as explicit liber, explicit, expliceat, &c. 
Encyc. Brit., XVIII. 144. 
explicitly (eks-plis'it-li), adv. Plainly; with- 
out disguise or reservation of meaning; not by 
inference or implication ; clearly ; unmistak- 
ably : as, he explicitly avows his intention. 
explicitness (eks-plis'it-nes), . The quality of 
being explicit; plainness of language or state- 
ment ; direct expression of knowledge, views, 
or intention, without reserve or ambiguity; out- 
spokenness. 
