élucidation

Elucidation is the act of making something clear through explanation or demonstration. It aims to remove obscurity and reveal the underlying reasons, principles, or relationships involved in a concept, argument, phenomenon, or text.

Etymology: from Latin elucidare “to make clear,” from lucere “to shine.” The modern English term elucidation dates from the medieval period; the accented form élucidation appears mainly in French-derived or stylistic contexts and is rare in standard English usage.

Applications and scope: elucidation is common in philosophy, science, law, and literature, where writers seek to clarify definitions, arguments, methods, or data. It may involve reformulation, illustration, or step-by-step reasoning. While useful for precision, over-elucidation can become pedantic if it obscures the point rather than clarifies it.

Relation to related ideas: elucidation is closely related to explanation and clarification; it focuses on making implicit ideas explicit. In some contexts, it overlaps with exegesis or interpretation, especially when clarifying complex or contested texts.

See also: elucidate, explanation, clarification, exposition, exegesis.