Elucidate vs Edify - What's the difference?
elucidate | edify |
To make clear; to clarify; to shed light upon.
* 1817 , , Northanger Abbey , ch. 13:
* 1960 , "
* 2004 , David Bernstein, “
To build, construct.
* , III.i:
To instruct or improve morally or intellectually.
* Gibbon
* 1813 , The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Vol. VI , page 455
As verbs the difference between elucidate and edify
is that elucidate is to make clear; to clarify; to shed light upon while edify is to build, construct.elucidate
English
Verb
(elucidat)- The business, however, though not perfectly elucidated by this speech, soon ceased to be a puzzle.
Medicine: Unmasking the Brain," Time , 4 April:
- [P]hysicians at the annual meeting of the American Academy of General Practice were fascinated by a 3-ft. model showing the brain's components in 20 layers of translucent plastic, and wired for colored lights to elucidate some of its workings.
Philosophy Hitches a Ride With ‘The Sopranos’,” New York Times , 13 April (retrieved 19 Aug. 2009):
- The new Sopranos volume has 17 essays that examine the television show and elucidate concepts from classical philosophers, including Aristotle, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Sun Tzu and Plato.
Synonyms
* explicate, illuminateDerived terms
* elucidation * elucidative * elucidator * elucidatoryedify
English
Alternative forms
* (archaic)Verb
(en-verb)- That Castle was most goodly edifyde , / And plaste for pleasure nigh that forrest syde
- It does not appear probable that our dispute [about miracles] would either edify or enlighten the public.
- That they ought to edify one another by maintaining and promoting the knowledge of truth.
- (Francis Bacon)