elaborateadjective
uk/iˈlæb.ər.ət/us/iˈlæb.ɚ.ət/C2 containing a lot of careful detail or many detailed parts:
You want a plain blouse to go with that skirt - nothing too elaborate.
They're making the most elaborate preparations for the wedding.
He came out with such an elaborate excuse that I didn't quite believe him.
More examples
- The dancers leading the procession were in colourful and elaborate costumes.
- She had a most elaborate hairdo, all piled up on top of her head.
- I'd prefer a simple classic style - nothing too elaborate.
- She and her boyfriend came up with an elaborate plan to murder her husband.
- That seems a very elaborate way of recording the information - do you really need all of those details?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Complexity
- a paper chase idiom
- advanced
- all-singing
- be more to sth than meets the eye idiom
- bleeding-edge
- equation
- fancy
- high-tech
- intractable
- intricacy
- intricate
- many-sided
- plot
- purple
- sophisticated
- tangled
- the plot thickens idiom
- thereby
- thereby hangs a tale idiom
- wheel
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Detailed and careful
elaborately
adverb uk/iˈlæb.ər.ət.li/us/iˈlæb.ɚ.ət.li/
It was the most elaborately decorated cake - all sugar flowers and bows.
elaborateverb [ I ]
uk/iˈlæb.ə.reɪt/us/iˈlæb.ə.reɪt/formalto add more information to or explain something that you have said:
The congresswoman said she was resigning, but refused to elaborate on her reasons for doing so.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Elaborating, specifying and simplifying
- broaden
- complicate
- depth
- detail
- dilate
- dilate on/upon sth
- dumb
- expand
- expand on sth
- expansive
- expatiate
- flesh
- flesh sth out
- generalization
- predigested
- reductive
- simplify
- spec
- specification
- split
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elaboration
noun [ C or U ] uk/iˌlæb.əˈreɪ.ʃən/us/iˌlæb.əˈreɪ.ʃən/
This point needs greater elaboration.