EXPLAIN in a Sentence

Learn EXPLAIN from example sentences; some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

331 example sentences for EXPLAIN, such as:

1. He will explain it fully once and for all.
2. I tried to explain, but he just talked me down.
3. She went to the office to explain her predicament.
4. The judge asked counsel for the defence to explain.
5. It was difficult to explain the problem to beginners.

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 Meanings and Examples of EXPLAIN
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
explain
 v.  make clear the reason of
 v.  make known in detail
Classic Sentence: (210 in 15 pages)
1  I'll--I'll help you explain how you did it for the hospital.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER X
2  And, my dear, I would not have alarmed you by saying these things, were it not that I had to explain why I ask you to look after Melanie.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XV
3  Go to Mrs. Elsing's, and explain everything very carefully and tell her to please come up here.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXI
4  She would have to explain to her just why Mrs. Meade couldn't come and the knowledge that Phil Meade was badly wounded might upset her.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXI
5  Prissy went off at a trot, the letter gripped in her hand, and Scarlett went back upstairs, trying to think of some plausible lie to explain Mrs. Elsing's failure to appear.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXI
6  Then he had thought it all beyond her mental grasp and it had been pleasant to explain things to her.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXVI
7  She never wrote him and naturally he could not write her and explain.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXVI
8  Frank went on to explain in his patient manner, but the idea that ballots could cure the trouble was too complicated for her to follow.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXVII
9  You have eternity in which to explain and only one night to be a martyr in the amphitheater.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER LIII
10  "If you were not so drunk and insulting, I would explain everything," said Scarlett, recovering some dignity.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER LIV
11  But at her first tumbled-out words: "Melly, I must explain about the other day--" Melanie had imperiously stopped her.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER LV
12  If you can manage to listen to me for a few minutes without interrupting, I can explain what I mean.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER LXIII
13  She broke off, laughing, to explain that she had come up to town from Tuxedo, on her way to the Gus Trenors' at Bellomont, and had missed the three-fifteen train to Rhinebeck.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: Chapter 1
14  He found Gerty as he had left her, simple, undemanding and devoted, but with a quickened intelligence of the heart which he recognized without seeking to explain it.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: Chapter 8
15  But it was too much trouble to explain to Kennicott's kindly stubbornness that she was a practical housekeeper as well as a flighty playmate.
Main Street By Sinclair Lewis
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VI
Example Sentence: (121 in 9 pages)
16  You're wasting your time trying to explain it to him.
17  He tried to explain to her, but she brushed him off impatiently.
18  Evolution can explain the past, but it can never predict the future.
19  I tried to explain, but he just talked me down.
20  When asked to explain her behaviour, she gave a very defensive answer.
21  He will explain it fully once and for all.
22  The judge asked counsel for the defence to explain.
23  She tried to explain what had happened but he kept interrupting her.
24  It was difficult to explain the problem to beginners.
25  She went to the office to explain her predicament.
26  I had met with him to explain the format of the programme and what we had in mind.
27  I've digressed a little to explain the situation so far, so let me now recap.
28  Love is an unknown place that no saying from all around the worldcan explain.
29  If you'll bear with me, Frank, just let me try to explain.
30  He evaded her questions about the war and tried to explain away the atrocities.