re-explain

verb

To explain again or in a different way.

Similar
reinterpret
OriginEnglish explain ← Middle English re- ← Old French re- →
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Meanings

verbre-explain (third-person singular simple present re-explains, present participle re-explaining, simple past and past participle re-explained)

present singular third person re-explains · participle present re-explaining · participle past re-explained · past re-explained · alternative reexplain · alternative reëxplain

  1. To explain again or in a different way.
    1 more example

    The story of simple Bernadette and the Lady of Lourdes, for an example of the readily transmutable quality of visionary rumors, has been re-explained as a UFO visitation. It has thus been recycled and hermeneutically reinterpreted to accommodate the unconscious content and symbolic needs of the more modern age.

    2014, Brian Anse Patrick, Zombology: Zombies and the Decline of the West (and Guns), London: Arktos, →ISBN, page 40

Synonyms & antonyms

verbinterpret from a different viewpoint

Similar
reinterpret
Broader
redeinterpret
Also see
reinterpret

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Italic*wre-
  2. Latinre-
  3. Old Frenchre-
  4. Middle Englishre-
  5. Englishre-
  6. Englishexplain
  7. Englishre-explain

From re- + explain.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

re-explain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/re-explain

MLA

“re-explain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/re-explain. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “re-explain,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/re-explain.

Source: re-explain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.