1 [C,U] ~ (for sth / for doing sth) a statement, fact, or situation that tells you why sth happened; a reason given for sth:
The most likely explanation is that his plane was delayed. * to offer / provide an explanation * I can't think of any possible explanation for his absence. * She left the room abruptly without explanation. * 'I had to see you,' he said, by way of explanation. * She didn't give a very adequate explanation for being late. * The book opens with an explanation of why some drugs are banned. * an explanation as to why he had left early -< REASON
2 [C] a statement or piece of writing that tells you how sth works or makes sth easier to understand:
For a full explanation of how the machine works, turn to page 5. * The teacher gave the children a detailed explanation of the story.
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
Where does this definition of explanation come from?
This entry for explanation is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is explanation a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, explanation is tagged as noun.
Does explanation appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — explanation appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.