I. ˈekspləˌkāt transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Latin explicatus, past participle of explicare, literally, to unfold, from ex- ex- (I) + plicare to fold — more at ply
1.
a. : to give a detailed account of : expound , disclose
an unfairness … which this would not be quite the proper place for explicating — Charles Lamb
b. : to unfold the meaning or sense of : interpret , clarify
trying to explicate not vocabulary or techniques but the experience out of which these works were written — Perry Miller
2. obsolete : to lay open : unfold , expand
the rose of Jericho will … explicate its flowers — Sir Thomas Browne
3. obsolete : disentangle , extricate
no way to explicate the Kingdom out of those intricacies — Edward Hyde
4. : to develop what is involved or implied in (as a statement or notion) : analyze logically
this principle has been explicated into three general axioms — Francis Bowen
II. adjective
Etymology: Latin explicatus, past participle of explicare
obsolete : explicated