illustrate
verb
il·lus·trate ˈi-lə-ˌstrāt 
also i-ˈlə-
illustrated; illustrating
transitive verb
1
a
: to provide with visual features intended to explain or decorate
illustrate a book
b
: to make clear by giving or by serving as an example or instance
c
: to make clear : clarify
2
: to show clearly : demonstrate
3
obsolete
a
: enlighten
b
: to light up
4
a
archaic : to make illustrious
b obsolete
(1)
: to make bright
(2)
: adorn
intransitive verb
: to give an example or instance
illustrator
ˈi-lə-ˌstrā-tər
noun also i-ˈlə-
Synonyms
- demonstrate
- exemplify
- instance
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
He illustrated his lecture with stories of his own experiences in the field. Please give a few examples to illustrate your point. The results illustrate how important it is to wear your seatbelt. The students will write and illustrate their own stories.
Recent Examples on the Web Plenty of numbers illustrate how Devers has thrived since getting called up to South Bend in early July. 
Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 16 Sep. 2022 For the first time though, the Garrity records illustrate why the officers opened fire, in their own words. Paighten Harkins, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Sep. 2022 The comments left on her TikTok announcement illustrate it best. Nicola Dall'asen, Allure, 9 Sep. 2022 These novels illustrate powerful stories about the culture and experiences of the Hispanic and Latinx communities not only in the United States but throughout the world. Leah Campano, Seventeen, 9 Sep. 2022 Their stories illustrate how unexpected circumstances — the pandemic and its economic aftereffects, natural disasters, and domestic abuse — can result in unanticipated precarity in later life, even for people who worked hard for decades. Judith Graham, CBS News, 7 Sep. 2022 Taylor's season was so dominant and so efficient that the numbers to illustrate it are endless. Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 21 July 2022 Some of these crafts, like a book kids can write and illustrate themselves, may even become keepsakes. Leigh Crandall, Country Living, 10 May 2022 After writing a young adult novel, Mr. Dworetzky decided, as a lark, to try to illustrate it. WSJ, 22 Oct. 2021 See More
Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 16 Sep. 2022 For the first time though, the Garrity records illustrate why the officers opened fire, in their own words. Paighten Harkins, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Sep. 2022 The comments left on her TikTok announcement illustrate it best. Nicola Dall'asen, Allure, 9 Sep. 2022 These novels illustrate powerful stories about the culture and experiences of the Hispanic and Latinx communities not only in the United States but throughout the world. Leah Campano, Seventeen, 9 Sep. 2022 Their stories illustrate how unexpected circumstances — the pandemic and its economic aftereffects, natural disasters, and domestic abuse — can result in unanticipated precarity in later life, even for people who worked hard for decades. Judith Graham, CBS News, 7 Sep. 2022 Taylor's season was so dominant and so efficient that the numbers to illustrate it are endless. Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 21 July 2022 Some of these crafts, like a book kids can write and illustrate themselves, may even become keepsakes. Leigh Crandall, Country Living, 10 May 2022 After writing a young adult novel, Mr. Dworetzky decided, as a lark, to try to illustrate it. WSJ, 22 Oct. 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
Latin illustratus, past participle of illustrare, from in- + lustrare to purify, make bright — more at luster
First Known Use
1526, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 3
Kids Definition
illustrate
verb
il·lus·trate ˈi-lə-ˌstrāt
illustrated; illustrating
1
: to supply with pictures or diagrams meant to explain or decorate
illustrate a book
2
: to make clear by using examples
She illustrated her point with stories.
3
: to serve as an example
The results illustrate the need for planning.
illustrations
noun
1
as in diagrams
something that visually explains or decorates a text this book on birds has gorgeous illustrations Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- diagrams
- graphics
- figures
- visuals
- drawings
- pictures
- depictions
- plates
- captions
- portraits
- artworks
- representations
- images
- arts
- portrayals
- explanations
- illuminations
- pictograms
- insets
- pictographs
- explications
- elucidations
- clarifications
- expositions
- keys
- pictorializations
- legends
2
as in explanations
a statement that makes something clear forced to give several illustrations until she was understood Synonyms & Similar Words
- explanations
- interpretations
- translations
- elucidations
- explications
- analyses
- illuminations
- constructions
- clarifications
- definitions
- expositions
- exegeses
- comments
- commentaries
- annotations
- reasonings
- demonstrations
- road maps
- paraphrases
- glosses
- restatements
- meanings
- justifications
- edifications
- rationales
- enlightenments
- enactments
- warnings
- rationalizations
- caveats
- disentanglements
- epexegeses
- cautions
3
as in pictures
a two-dimensional design intended to look like a person or thing the doctor sketched an illustration to explain the procedure to the patient Synonyms & Similar Words
- pictures
- images
- portraits
- drawings
- depictions
- photographs
- likenesses
- representations
- watercolors
- sketches
- diagrams
- icons
- etchings
- ikons
- views
- doodles
- resemblances
- collages
- silhouettes
- cartoons
- caricatures
- delineations
- montages
- daubs
- ideograms
- hieroglyphs
- hieroglyphics
- pictographs
- ideographs
- finger paintings
4
as in examples
one of a group or collection that shows what the whole is like chose one essay as an illustration of the high quality of the collection Synonyms & Similar Words
- examples
- specimens
- samples
- instances
- cases
- exemplifications
- prototypes
- indications
- exemplars
- representatives
- cases in point
- archetypes
- classics
- manifestations
- paradigms
- evidences
- signs
- cross sections
- microcosms
- loci classici