| 释义 |
explanation|ɛkspləˈneɪʃən|
Also 4 explanacioun.
[ad. L. explānātiōn-em, n. of action f. explānāre: see explain.]
1. The action or process of explaining; an instance of the same. in explanation of: for the purpose of explaining. † Act of Explanation = Explanatory Act.
1382Wyclif Josh. Prol., We han demed..to sitten to the explanacioun of the prophetis. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 478/2 By which explanacions by mouth the people came into y⊇ vndouted trouth. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 229, I pass to the Explanation of the following Table. 1689Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 555 The..parliament..have repealed..the acts of settlement and explanation. 1729Butler Serm. Wks. II. 153, I proceed to the particular explanation of the precept before us. 1767Junius Lett. xxi. 99 A few lines in explanation of some passages in my last letter. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 666 The malignity..seemed to require explanation.
2. That which explains, makes clear, or accounts for; a method of explaining or accounting for; a statement that makes things intelligible. Also (as title), a treatise composed for the purpose of explaining.
a1610Healey Cebes F 7 b, This explanation resembleth the riddle of Sphynx. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. i. 3, I have more at large discoursed in my Explanation of the Mystery of Godliness. a1715Burnet Own Time (1734) II. 214 The ill effects that were like to follow on those different Explanations [of the Trinity]. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest i, La Motte now asked for an explanation of the scene. 1856Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. vi. 233 Facts are not to be rejected merely because the explanation offered of them proves to be erroneous. 1883Froude Short Stud. IV. i. iv. 44 Vast sums were found to have been received..of which no explanation had been given.
Comb.1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. 46 It passes through his own Explanation-strainer.
3. A mutual declaration of the sense of spoken words, motives of actions, etc., with a view to adjust a misunderstanding and reconcile differences; hence, a mutual understanding or reconciliation of parties who have been at variance.
1840Barham Ingol. Leg., Spectre of Tapp., I shall come to an immediate explanation with your father on the subject. |