expound

1. 1.

   add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing

   “She elaborated on the main ideas in her dissertation”

   Synonymselaboratelucubrateexpatiateexpositenlargeflesh outexpanddilate

   Broaderclarify

   Narrowerdetailset forthexemplifyspecify
2. 2.

   state

   “set forth one's reasons”

   Synonymsset forthexposit

   Broaderelaborate

   Narrowerdescribepremise

Other forms of expound

past tense

expounded·

present participle

expounding·

third person

expounds·

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 expound

What does expound mean?

expound 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 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in expound?

expound has 2 syllables: ex-pound. The stress falls on "pound". In IPA it is /ɪkˈspaʊnd/.

What is another word for expound?

Close synonyms include elaborate, lucubrate, expatiate, exposit, enlarge. 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 expound a common word?

expound is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.