elaborate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing
    expound; lucubrate; dilate; expatiate; enlarge; exposit; flesh out; expand.
    • She elaborated on the main ideas in her dissertation
  2. verb produce from basic elements or sources; change into a more developed product
    • The bee elaborates honey
  3. verb make more complex, intricate, or richer
    rarify; complicate; refine.
    • refine a design or pattern
  4. verb work out in detail
    work out.
    • elaborate a plan
  5. adjective satellite marked by complexity and richness of detail
    luxuriant.
    • an elaborate lace pattern
  6. adjective satellite developed or executed with care and in minute detail
    detailed; elaborated.
    • a detailed plan
    • the elaborate register of the inhabitants prevented tax evasion"- John Buchan
    • the carefully elaborated theme

WordNet


E*lab"o*rate adjective
Etymology
L. elaboratus, p. p. of elaborare to work out; e out + laborare to labor, labor labor. See Labor.
Definitions
  1. Wrought with labor; finished with great care; studied; executed with exactness or painstaking; as, an elaborate discourse; an elaborate performance; elaborate research.
    Drawn to the life in each elaborate page. Waller.
    Syn. -- Labored; complicated; studied; perfected; high-wrought. -- E*lab"o*rate*ly, adv. -- E*lab"o*rate*ness, n.
E*lab"o*rate transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Elaborated ; present participle & verbal noun Elaborating
Definitions
  1. To produce with labor
    They in full joy elaborate a sigh, Young.
  2. To perfect with painstaking; to improve or refine with labor and study, or by successive operations; as, to elaborate a painting or a literary work.
    The sap is . . . still more elaborated and exalted as it circulates through the vessels of the plant. Arbuthnot.

Webster 1913