Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Planned or executed with painstaking attention to numerous parts or details.
- adj. Intricate and rich in detail.
- v. To work out with care and detail; develop thoroughly.
- v. To produce by effort; create.
- v. To become elaborate.
- v. To express at greater length or in greater detail: asked me to elaborate on my proposal.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To produce with labor; work out; produce in general.
- Specifically To improve or refine by successive operations; work out with great care; work up fully or perfectly.
- To be or become elaborate; be elaborated.
- Wrought with labor; finished with great care and nicety of detail; much studied; executed with exactness; highly finished: as, an elaborate discourse; an elaborate performance.
- Synonyms Labored, perfected, highly wrought.
Wiktionary
- adj. Highly complex, detailed, or sophisticated
- adj. intricate, fancy, flashy, or showy
- v. intransitive (used with on when used with an object) To give further detail or explanation (about).
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Wrought with labor; finished with great care; studied; executed with exactness or painstaking
- v. To produce with labor.
- v. To perfect with painstaking; to improve or refine with labor and study, or by successive operations.
WordNet 3.0
- v. add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing
- v. work out in detail
- adj. marked by complexity and richness of detail
- v. produce from basic elements or sources; change into a more developed product
- adj. developed or executed with care and in minute detail
- v. make more complex, intricate, or richer
Etymologies
- 1575, from Late Latin ēlabōrātus ("worked out"), past participle of ēlabōrō ("to work out"), from ē- (ex-, "out, forth, fully") + labor ("work, toil, exertion"). More at e-, labour. (Wiktionary)
- Latin ēlabōrātus, past participle of ēlabōrāre, to work out : ē-, ex-, intensive pref.; see ex- + labōrāre, to work (from labor, work). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Editors at "USA Today" say one of their former reporters engaged in what they call elaborate deception in a story claiming the Serb military ordered ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.”
“Horrorfest brought them out in elaborate splendor.”
“The boys got off to rough start when they came on stage in elaborate costumes and make up and Kimmel asked if they were "hit by Siegfried and Roy's tour bus.”
The Huffington Post: Tim & Eric Explain 'Chrimbus' Traditions On Kimmel (VIDEO)
“Mr. Rose's restaurant specializes in elaborate tasting menus, but soup is a favorite at home, where he lacks a staff of five and a dishwasher.”
“Actors, including University of Maryland theater students in elaborate makeup, scare visitors, but don't touch them.”
The Washington Post: Dueling 'Field of Screams' Halloween venues pit Md. nonprofit against Pa. group
“It dealt, in elaborate detail, with one factor in the persistence of the established, namely, the capitalistic bias of the universities and common schools.”
“But with Wizards owner Ted Leonsis introducing his team in elaborate fashion with a 3-D production and former owner Irene Pollin sitting in the front row, the team gave the 17,803 fans who came a memorable contest.”
The Washington Post: A memorable home opener for Wall, Wizards
“There are two gentlemen who bring their reloads to the field in elaborate and ornate carrying cases which when opened reveal separate hull compartments, felt lined?!, and varying gizmos that that look more like some mad scientist's Doc bag from the 18th century.”
“Fulton's strengths are in elaborate detail and delicate construction.”
The Nightingales of Troy: Summary and book reviews of The Nightingales of Troy by Alice Fulton.
“Although they contain elaborate decoration they do not contain the kind of detailed information for Privy Chamber expenditure as Mary's accounts from 1536 until 1543 do. 155 There are no references in the accounts to valentines, card games, or entertainments.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘elaborate’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Rats
rats, rat, tree-rat, pilori-rat, prorate, pro rata, Ratso Rizzo, ratfink, rat pack, Rat Pack, Rats!, rat race and 157 more...
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multiple meaning words
These words seem very familiar but are awfully-versatile and oftentimes serve senses exceptionally beyond people's presumptions ...
sense, serve, please, say, profile, draw, weather, bear, project, ship, profiler, tune and 140 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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It's Complicated
Words about complication, complexity.
nookshotten, finicky, challenging, intricate, complex, complication, involved, elaborate, labyrinthine, involute, sophisticated, tangled and 21 more...
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Rococo
Words that describe the decadent Rococo art of the early 18th Century
Baroque, hedonistic, sensuality, pretty, elaborate, flirtation, chauvinistic, cupid, decorative, playful, vibrant, exuberant and 31 more...
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Oh Really?
Words having to do with arguments/debates
oppugn, proof, argle-bargle, sophism, premise, reasoning, elaborate
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EU Buzz - EN words misused by the EU
A list based on http://ec.europa.eu/translation/english/guidelines/document...
actor, actual, adequate, agenda, agent, aids, allow, anglo-saxon, articulate, assist, axis, attestation and 77 more...
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Ophelia
Words to describe John Everett Millais' Ophelia
biology, biosphere, community, habitat, biotic, vivacious, nature, natural, detail, ecology ecosystem, dense, elaborate and 33 more...
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eatknee's list
Words that I enjoy and enjoy saying frequently.
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maygra
apropos, advantageous, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, perihelion, mortmain, solitudinous, mediastinus, asumbrative, traveler and 498 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 3063 more... -
Bi-sonics
Allophonic homographs. Words that are pronounced at least 2 ways, having different senses. 'august' and 'polish' are less ambiguous since capitalization make the correct pronunciation clear (at lea...
sow, row, dove, polish, precedent, rewet, lower, read, bass, patent, primer, tear and 102 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for elaborate.
Surge2 a Jun 6, 2011