elaboration
Fleshing it out
Elaboration is the act of developing something in greater detail or complexity.
A basic idea gains elaboration through explanation, ornamentation, or refinement: The proposal needs further elaboration.
In writing or speech, elaboration adds supporting details to a point: Her elaboration on the theory took twenty minutes.
The word also describes ornate decoration or intricate workmanship: the elaboration of Gothic cathedrals.
Increase in scope
- extensionAdded part or duration
- amplificationIncrease in intensity
- broadeningIncreasing in extent
- fleshing outAdding substance and detail
augmentation · enlargement · refinement · enhancement · unfolding · progression · layering · complication
Increase in intensity
- digressionVeering off topic
- expatiationExtended detailed discourse
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
- grandiloquencePompous, extravagant language
purple prose · prolixity · verbosity · discursiveness · parenthesis · excursus · pleonasm · tautology
To make understood
- explainMake something understood
- expoundExplain at length
- clarifyMake something understandable
- specifyState in detail
detail · illustrate · interpret · demystify · annotate · gloss · explicate · unpack
Decorative additions to something
- decorationObject adding visual appeal
- flourishTo grow vigorously
- adornmentDecorative addition or accessory
- embroideryDecorative stitching on fabric
gilding · filigree · fanciness · frills · garnish · scrollwork · lacework · arabesque
Claim beyond the facts
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
- overemphasisExcessive importance placed
- inflationSustained price level increase
- magnificationDegree of visual enlargement
embroidering · overelaboration · overdoing · overblowing · dramatization · aggrandizement · stretching · padding
expansion
Increase in scope
- extensionAdded part or duration
- amplificationIncrease in intensity
- broadeningIncreasing in extent
fleshing out · augmentation · enlargement · refinement · enhancement · unfolding · progression · layering · complication · escalation
amplification
Increase in intensity
- digressionVeering off topic
- expatiationExtended detailed discourse
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
grandiloquence · purple prose · prolixity · verbosity · discursiveness · parenthesis · excursus · pleonasm · tautology · copiousness
elucidate
To make understood
specify · detail · illustrate · interpret · demystify · annotate · gloss · explicate · unpack · spell out
ornamentation
Decorative additions to something
- decorationObject adding visual appeal
- flourishTo grow vigorously
- adornmentDecorative addition or accessory
embroidery · gilding · filigree · fanciness · frills · garnish · scrollwork · lacework · arabesque · festoon
overstatement
Claim beyond the facts
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
- overemphasisExcessive importance placed
- inflationSustained price level increase
magnification · embroidering · overelaboration · overdoing · overblowing · dramatization · aggrandizement · stretching · padding · puffery
- conversationlistening, talk, talking, chat, speaking
- brain trainingbrain training, memory, focus, mental fitness, cognitive training
- clarifying languagenamely, specifically, in other words, that is, for example
- class discussionquestion, answer, comment, response, opinion
- descriptiondescription, detail, descriptive prose, vivid imagery, sensory detail
- dialogueconversation, line, lines, banter, talk
elaborationabbreviation
Shortened word form
brevity · abridgement · condensation · summary · conciseness
elaborationsimplicity
Lack of complexity
plainness · simplification · austerity · bareness · minimalism
elaborationregression
Return to former state
decline · deterioration · degeneration · degradation · decay