Dictionary

explicative en · ADJ

Etymology

From Latin explicātīvus, from explicō (“to unfold, open out”).

Meanings

1. Explanatory; serving to explain logically or in detail.
   • The witness was explicative in telling the police what he saw.

Forms

Deriveds

explicatively

Relateds

explication · explicate · expletive

Synonyms

explicatory

explicative en · NOUN

Etymology

From Latin explicātīvus, from explicō (“to unfold, open out”).

Meanings

1. An explicative term or expression.
   • Here we can explain an event by referring to something that happened long before or long after. This is the case with 19, where the tense of the explicative clauses are overtly realized and refer to points much earlier in the narrative. Thus explicatives do not necessarily serve the evaluative function of bringing several actions together. 1972, William Labov, “The Transformation of Experience in Narrative Syntax”, in Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular (Conduct and Communication; 3), Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, part III (The Uses of the Black English Vernacular), pages 391–392:
   • As becomes clear from this example, prohibitives and normatives can be more easily located in a text than explicatives. This is because explicatives are often implicit; they depend on a text’s overall meaning and force, relying on what are often hidden presuppositions that have to be provided by the reader. 2010, Spiros Moschonas, Jürgen Spitzmüller, “Prescriptivism in and about the media: a comparative analysis of corrective practices in Greece and Germany”, in Sally Johnson, Tommaso M. Milani, editors, Language Ideologies and Media Discourse: Texts, Practices, Politics (Advances in Sociolinguistics), London; New York, N.Y.: Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, part I (Standards and Standardization in National and Global Contexts), page 25:
   • For the adverſative particle [but] which follows, when he ſaith, but he emptied himſelf requires this: Otherwiſe it will not be ſo much an adverſative as an explicative, and will be taken improperly, ſed, pro, veruntamen, but for, nevertheleſs: which leads us to the conſideration of verſe 7. 1669, John Tombes, “The Text Is Explained in Order to the Refelling of the Exception”, in Emmanuel; or, God-Man. […], London: […] F. Smith […], →OCLC, page 197:
2. (nonstandard) An expletive.
   • Even if the reader is amused by the notion of Rembrandt rearranging a Cezanne to suit himself, he is unlikely to find Rembrandt’s pet explicatives – “Holy Hollandaise!” and “Great Gouda!” – anything more than feeble. 1986 November 9, J[ames] Hoberman, “Children’s Books: No TV, but Check Out the Paintings”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2015:
   • Akiem Hicks is a very large man, with arms thicker than my torso. So when he said he was hurling “explicatives” at Vikings running back Dalvin Cook after annihilating him for no gain in the first quarter Sunday afternoon, I wasn’t about to correct him. 2018 December 30, Mark Lazerus, “'You love that feeling': Hyper-aggressive Bears go for the kill, bury Vikings”, in The Athletic, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Jul 2026:
   • Norfolk may yet win its battle against deletable explicatives. 1974 August 8, B. Drummond Ayres Jr., “Boom Helps Norfolk, Va., to Delete Expletives About Its Past”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • Nacho, one of the sentries standing in the aisle north of the Sounders’ fan section, worked the first Portland-Seattle match here back in May, and beyond some yelled explicatives and raised middle fingers, said he never worried about those leading to anything more extreme. 2018 August 27, Matt Pentz, “Sounders make Timbers their own worst enemies, extend record win streak”, in The Athletic, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Jul 2026:

Forms