Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

ex-plāno, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a.

  1. * I. Lit., to flatten or spread out: suberi cortex in denos pedes undique explanatus, Plin. 16, 8, 13, § 34.
  2. II. Trop., of speech, to make plain or clear, to explain (class.: syn.: explico, expono, interpretor): qualis differentia sit honesti et decori, facilius intelligi quam explanari potest, Cic. Off. 1, 27, 94; cf. Quint. 5, 10, 4: rem latentem explicare definiendo, obscuram explanare interpretando, etc., Cic. Brut. 42, 152: explanare apertiusque dicere aliquid, id. Fin. 2, 19, 60: docere et explanare, id. Off. 1, 28, 101: aliquid conjecturā, id. de Or. 2, 69, 280: rem, id. Or. 24, 80: quem amicum tuum ais fuisse istum, explana mihi, Ter. Ph. 2, 3, 33: de cujus hominis moribus pauca prius explananda sunt, quam initium narrandi faciam, Sall. C. 4, 5.
    Pass. impers.: juxta quod flumen, aut ubi fuerit, non satis explanatur, Plin. 6, 23, 26, § 97.
      1. 2. To utter distinctly: et ille juravit, expressit, explanavitque verba, quibus, etc., Plin. Pan. 64, 3.
        Hence, explānātus, a, um, P. a. (acc. to II.), plain, distinct (rare): claritas in voce, in lingua etiam explanata vocum impressio, i. e. an articulate pronunciation, Cic. Ac. 1, 5, 19: parum explanatis vocibus sermo praeruptus, Sen. de Ira, 1, 1, 4.
        Adv. ex-plānāte, plainly, clearly, distinctly: scriptum, Gell. 16, 8, 3.
        Comp.: ut definire rem cum explanatius, tum etiam uberius (opp. presse et anguste), Cic. Or. 33, 117.