elaborate Hear it!

elaborate Definition

elabo·rate (ē lab′ə rit, i-; for v., --ə rāt′)

adjective

  1. worked out carefully; developed in great detail
  2. highly wrought or ornamented; complicated
  3. painstaking

Etymology: L elaboratus, pp. of elaborare, to work out, labor greatly < e-, out + laborare < labor, labor

transitive verb -·rat′ed, -·rat′·ing

  1. to produce by effort
  2. to work out carefully; develop in great detail
  3. to change (food or substances in the body) into compounds that can be assimilated, excreted, etc.

intransitive verb

to state something in detail or add more details: usually with on or upon

elaborate Related Forms

elab′o·rately adverb elab′o·rate·ness noun elab′o·ra′·tion noun elab′o·ra′·tive (ē lab′ə rāt′iv, -ə rə tiv) adjective elab′o·ra′·tor noun

elaborate Synonyms

elaborate

modif.

  1. Ornamented

    ornate, gaudy, decorated, garnished, showy, ostentatious, imposing, intricate, fussy, dressy, fancy, elegant, embellished, extravagant, refined, beautified, festooned, spangled, flowery, bedecked, flashy, baroque, rococo; see also ornate 1.

    Antonyms plain, ordinary, austere.

  2. Detailed

    complicated, extensive, laborious, minute, widely developed, intricate, involved, highly organized, many-faceted, complex, convoluted, painstaking, studied, labored; see also complex 1, 2, detailed.

    Antonyms simple, general*, careless.

elaborate Synonyms

elaborate

v.

work out, develop, refine, embellish; see develop 1.

elaborate Usage Examples

Object

  • quot: Or how many units each producing to do lifting he elaborates quot.
  • mechanism: They also insisted that the Plan of Action elaborate the financial mechanisms to support their involvement in implementing the Protocol.
  • concept: The problems Don posed in elaborating the concept are still very much my own and the pondering continues.
  • theme: This work takes up and elaborates the themes set out in Benjamin's previous benchmark book The Plural Event.
  • model: I then use case studies of several programs to illustrate and elaborate the model.
  • strategy: A good internet marketing specialist should be able to help you go through this process and elaborate a solid strategy.

Preposition: on

theme: Three case studies supplemented these interviews by elaborating on themes emerging from the first interviews, and additional themes for the second interviews.

Modifies a noun

  • hoax: Are they natural, the work of some alien visitor, or just a series of elaborate hoaxes?
  • carving: The cup marked rocks tend to be less conspicuous than those with more elaborate carvings, which can be identified from some distance away.
  • ritual: Those with panache, myself included, maintained the semblance of elaborate ritual.
  • costume: The masks would have been worn by men in elaborate costumes.
  • decoration: The pharaohs focussed their building efforts on temples and their own tombs whose elaborate decoration would enhance their standing among the gods.
  • ornamentation: In the plant world, some plants use elaborate ornamentation to assist in their reproduction.

Modifying Another Word

  • wonderfully: Just sitting with the wonderfully elaborate box that the handset ships in made me forget my once embarrassing lust for the Motorola RAZR phone.
  • increasingly: Men learned to carve and decorate their wooden buildings and furniture in increasingly elaborate ways.
  • rather: On another note, prompted by the high sale of frames at the class, Alan has been sourcing some rather elaborate moldings.
  • quite: The Standard includes relevant test methods - those for security are quite elaborate.
  • somewhat: The brackets carrying the bearings are iron, substantial and somewhat elaborate, and are bolted to beams.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • upon: This vision has been elaborated upon for specific countries, showing the transition between 2000 and 2010.
  • on: JF: Don't want to elaborate on that then?