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Explain vs Lecture - What's the difference?

explain | lecture |

In obsolete terms the difference between explain and lecture

is that explain is to unfold or make visible while lecture is the act of reading.

As verbs the difference between explain and lecture

is that explain is to make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of while lecture is (to teach) To teach (somebody) by giving a speech on a given topic.

As a noun lecture is

(a spoken lesson) A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group.

explain

English

(Explanation)

Verb

(en verb)
  • To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
  • *
  • The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained .
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
  • , author=, volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Pixels or Perish , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}
  • To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}
  • (obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.
  • (obsolete) To unfold or make visible.
  • * (John Evelyn) (1620-1706)
  • The horse-chestnut isready to explain its leaf.

    Synonyms

    * (give a sufficiently detailed report) expound, elaborate

    lecture

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (senseid) A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture , with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}
  • A berating or scolding.
  • (obsolete) The act of reading.
  • Verb

    (lectur)
  • (senseid)(ambitransitive) To teach (somebody) by giving a speech on a given topic.
  • To preach, to berate, to scold.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=The dispatches […] also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies. Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * lecturer