explicative
Serving to explain
Explicative means serving to explain or explicate.
The word appears mainly in academic or technical writing: The footnotes provide explicative context for the main argument.
It overlaps almost entirely with explanatory, which is far more common in everyday use.
Making something understandable
- elucidatingMaking something easier understood
- illuminatingMaking visible or understandable
- explanatoryServing to clarify meaning
- interpretiveExplaining meaning or significance
expository · demystifying · disambiguating · unpacking · decoding · simplifying · unraveling · untangling
Intended to instruct
- pedagogicalRelating to teaching methods
- instructionalIntended to educate
- educationalPromoting knowledge or skill
- informativeProviding useful knowledge
teaching · tutoring · edifying · enlightening · instructive · educative · illustrative · demonstrative
Critical textual interpretation
- hermeneuticsStudy of interpretation methods
- annotationAdded explanatory comment
- glossShine or annotation
- commentaryExplanatory remarks on events
footnote · exposition · interpretation · paraphrase · textual analysis · critical reading · close reading · semantic analysis
clarifying
Making something understandable
- elucidatingMaking something easier understood
- illuminatingMaking visible or understandable
- explanatoryServing to clarify meaning
interpretive · expository · demystifying · disambiguating · unpacking · decoding · simplifying · unraveling · untangling · deciphering
didactic
Intended to instruct
- pedagogicalRelating to teaching methods
- instructionalIntended to educate
- educationalPromoting knowledge or skill
informative · teaching · tutoring · edifying · enlightening · instructive · educative · illustrative · demonstrative · guiding
exegesis
Critical textual interpretation
- hermeneuticsStudy of interpretation methods
- annotationAdded explanatory comment
- glossShine or annotation
commentary · footnote · exposition · interpretation · paraphrase · textual analysis · critical reading · close reading · semantic analysis · philological
explicativeobscurantist
One opposing spread of knowledge
obfuscating · obscuring · mystifying · confusing · opaque
explicativeimplicative
Tending to hint indirectly
implicit · tacit · assumptive · allusive · suggestive