Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To make clear or easier to understand; elucidate.
  • intransitive verb To clear of confusion or uncertainty.
  • intransitive verb To make clear by removing impurities or solid matter, as by heating gently or filtering.
  • intransitive verb To become clear.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To glorify.
  • To make clear; especially, purify from feculent matter; defecate; fine: applied particularly to liquors: as, to clarify wine or saccharine syrup. See clarification.
  • To brighten; purify; make clear, in a figurative sense; free from obscurities or defects; render luminous; render intelligent or intelligible.
  • To grow or become clear or free from feculent matter; become pure, as liquors: as, cider clarifies by fermentation.
  • To become clear intellectually; grow clear or perspicuous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To grow or become clear or transparent; to become free from feculent impurities, as wine or other liquid under clarification.
  • intransitive verb To grow clear or bright; to clear up.
  • transitive verb To make clear or bright by freeing from feculent matter; to defecate; to fine; -- said of liquids, as wine or sirup.
  • transitive verb To make clear; to free from obscurities; to brighten or illuminate.
  • transitive verb obsolete To glorify.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To make clear or bright by freeing from feculent matter; to defecate; to fine; -- said of liquids, as wine or syrup.
  • verb To make clear; to free from obscurities; to brighten or illuminate.
  • verb ergative To grow or become clear or transparent; to become free from feculent impurities, as wine or other liquid under clarification.
  • verb ergative To grow clear or bright; to clear up.
  • verb obsolete To glorify.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make clear by removing impurities or solids, as by heating
  • verb make clear and (more) comprehensible

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English clarifien, from Old French clarifier, from Late Latin clārificāre : Latin clārus, clear; see clear + Latin -ficāre, -fy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French clarifier, from Latin clarificare; clarus ("clear") + facere ("make").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Oh god, I never would have thought of clarify as a synonym of defecate. #buttertrauma

    August 18, 2015

  • Thanks! You've just given me an epiphany about Leonard Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat song:

    Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair

    She said that you gave it to her

    That night that you planned to go clear

    Did you ever go clear?

    August 18, 2015