elaborate

1. 1.

   marked by complexity and richness of detail

   “an elaborate lace pattern”

   Synonymsluxuriant

   Similarfancy
2. 2.

   developed or executed with care and in minute detail

   “a detailed plan”

   “the elaborate register of the inhabitants prevented tax evasion”

   “the carefully elaborated theme”

   Synonymsdetailedelaborated

   Similarcareful

Other forms of elaborate

past tense

elaborated·

present participle

elaborating·

third person

elaborates·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about elaborate

What does elaborate mean?

elaborate means "add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in elaborate?

elaborate has 3 syllables: ela-bor-ate. The stress falls on "bor". In IPA it is /ɪˈlæbɹət/.

What is another word for elaborate?

Close synonyms include lucubrate, expatiate, exposit, enlarge, flesh out. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is elaborate a common word?

elaborate is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.