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Illustration vs Explain - What's the difference?

illustration | explain |

As a noun illustration

is illustration.

As a verb explain is

to make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.

illustration

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of illustrating; the act of making clear and distinct; education; also, the state of being illustrated, or of being made clear and distinct.
  • That which illustrates; a comparison or example intended to make clear or apprehensible, or to remove obscurity.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=June 19 , author=Phil McNulty , title=England 1-0 Ukraine , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=England will regard it as a measure of justice for Frank Lampard's disallowed goal against Germany in Bloemfontein at the 2010 World Cup - but it was also an illustration of how they rode their luck for long periods in front of a predictably partisan home crowd.}}
  • A picture designed to decorate a volume or elucidate a literary work.
  • A calculated prevision of insurance premiums and returns (life insurance)"an illustration [...] is a computer projection of future premiums, cash values and death benefits based on the current dividend scale (whole life) or current interest rates and current costs of insurance (universal life)." taken from http://www.evaluatelifeinsurance.org
  • References

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    explain

    English

    (Explanation)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
  • *
  • The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained .
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
  • , author=, volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Pixels or Perish , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}
  • To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}
  • (obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.
  • (obsolete) To unfold or make visible.
  • * (John Evelyn) (1620-1706)
  • The horse-chestnut isready to explain its leaf.

    Synonyms

    * (give a sufficiently detailed report) expound, elaborate