How To Use Explanation In A Sentence

  • If you wonder about ‘furphy’, as I did, here's a gloss and explanation.
  • He provides clear explanations of complex economic issues, using anecdotes to illustrate each point.
  • The rest of the explanation seeps out gradually as midnight melts into the early hours. Times, Sunday Times
  • In these cases, then, thixotropy cannot be the explanation.
  • _clear, fair_, and _satisfactory_, not in our being always ready to offer an explanation, whether satisfactory or not. Gentle Measures in the Management and Training of the Young Or, the Principles on Which a Firm Parental Authority May Be Established and Maintained, Without Violence or Anger, and the Right Development of the Moral and Mental Capacities Be Promoted by Met
Linguix Browser extension
Fix your writing
on millions of websites
Linguix writing coach
  • He looked at the capable assistant with sincere eyes knowing that this would rattle him into some flustered explanation of his whereabouts.
  • It's great that she was able to tie up Super Smize's narrative, since half of these girls would have been so confused if they just encountered her in plainclothes without an explanation. Taking the boot off
  • In the offices, there was an explanation of the computerised administration processes, grave search and interview room facilities.
  • People keep trying to find rational explanations for their behavior.
  • My first explanation is my theory for the sci-fi physics of the electromagnetic storm.
  • About the only likely explanation was that it was used for electroplating, but no electroplated items had ever been found.
  • Anyone: What’s Yglesias explanation for the increase in egalitarianism? Matthew Yglesias » Marriages Becoming More Financially Egalitarian
  • But this was a perfectly placid surface, so the constant coming and going calls for some explanation. Times, Sunday Times
  • A further explanation may lie in the principles and style of legal interpretation and administration that are operative in Indonesia's contemporary legal system.
  • Again, a fear of ghosts walking may be the best explanation for burials that appear ‘respectful’ in all other ways.
  • I cudgelled my brains to find some possible explanation. Sex Dungeon for Sale!
  • It is unlikely that the Irish needed explanation of the concept of three persons in one, as triads were central to pre-Christian Celtic religious tradition.
  • I must have cut a wretched figure, filthy and sunburnt, to the brother who heard my explanations about who I was and why I was here.
  • The simplest explanation is that such people are "gluttons"; and the most romantic explanation is that there is some psychiatric reason making it necessary for them to overeat. The Human Brain
  • Like explanations, questions figure prominently in classroom interactions.
  • In contrast to less specific methods of treatment, the social skill training approaches have the advantage of lending themselves to this sort of concise, nonmystical explanation. Planned Short-Term Treatment
  • Every year produces a new crop of explanations, a new collection of essays, experiments, and simulations.
  • The lack of laughter in the auditorium is offset only by our blind hope that there is method in this madness and that an explanation is around the corner.
  • Each image in this lavishly illustrated book is accompanied by a detailed explanation.
  • the explanation was circuitous and puzzling
  • He sounded like he thought that was a complete, perfectly rational explanation.
  • The lack of sharp focus in this field is a serious obstacle to comparison of analyses and to proper explanation.
  • He disappeared without explanation, to much puzzlement. Times, Sunday Times
  • He had already been deserted by his female relatives, Georgina having been invited by young Lewis Armitage to join a group about the pianoforte, and Lavinia having stridden off without a word of explanation to join Sophie. Irresistible
  • It is true that this explanation of the bright, conspicuous colours is only a hypothesis, but its foundations -- unpalatableness, and the liability of other butterflies to be eaten, -- are certain, and its consequences -- the existence of mimetic palatable forms -- conform it in the most convincing manner. Evolution in Modern Thought
  • As there was no abatement of the blows of the boat against the embankment, no reply nor explanation, a shot from the gun of one of the levee-watch came skipping lightsomely over the water as The Crucial Moment 1911
  • They argue that as a tool of understanding rather than explanation, activity theory is supported primarily by means of idiographic, qualitative, and/or case studies.
  • A popular explanation for these findings is that adolescents who are depressed begin consuming alcohol as a way to self-medicate.
  • There's sure to be a perfectly innocent explanation for all this?though I admit it looks bizarre.
  • But an alternative explanation had also come to him which he knew he should not ignore.
  • He has not provided any rigorous analysis or even detailed explanation of these alleged technical problems.
  • The portly old housekeeper used to play cicerone, but the portly old housekeeper, growing portlier and older every day, got in time quite unable to waddle up and down and pant out gasping explanations to the strangers. The Baronet's Bride
  • The two principal alternatives to the explanation that crop circles are made by humans are that they are made by extraterrestrials, or that they are made naturally by wind vortices.
  • Without these crucial areas of explanation, her theory of how innovations occur or do not occur seems remarkably fragile.
  • To say this is, however, in my judgment, to misappreciate what an explanation is. The Journal of Abnormal Psychology
  • There is no rational explanation for his actions.
  • The worst possible explanation is that some new, previously unknown viral disease has found its way into the burrows and is now taking a grip. Times, Sunday Times
  • The moment somebody thinks they've nailed the grand alchemy that makes Dali a genius somebody else came along and offers a new, kookier explanation. The Birth of Girma Dali
  • Only if the same association is shown by others and defies simple explanation should it be taken seriously. Times, Sunday Times
  • It looked like an open-and-shut case until the judge, suddenly and without explanation, announced that he was dismissing the allegations. Kill the Irishman
  • Stanley's complaint is about the inadequacy of phyletic gradualism to account for the known facts of paleontology and the superiority of punctuated equilibria as an explanation for those facts.
  • I differ with great diffidence from the learned Baron whose Oriental reading was extensive; but the tale does not seem to justify his explanations. The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night
  • One might as well tell the patient she is possessed by demons, as give her a psychoanalytic explanation of her physical disease or disorder.
  • The principal explanation lies in the obscene moral inversion of victim culture.
  • One mystery turned out to have a prosaic explanation. Times, Sunday Times
  • I just think the guys have been friends for many years," European Captain Bernhard Langer said, by way of explanation. USATODAY.com - U.S. flames out on big stage, again
  • They utilize explanation more than demonstration and consider the transmission of information to be of primary importance.
  • Nor are they fully explained - although less efficient digestion in general is probably a reasonably accurate explanation.
  • The explanation that Jesus gives is not The Explanation for All Ages; it is what we could call a hermeneutical pattern, or an interpretative model. Parables do not save
  • But the teams are rapidly running out of alternative explanations for these events.
  • Physical exhaustion and the resulting benumbment of a mind that depended much on sleep probably are the basic explanation for Jackson's inability to meet the demands of the campaign. LEE’S LIEUTENANTS
  • An explanation may lie in the disjuncture between human evolution and history. Times, Sunday Times
  • Explanation: Is the heart and soul of our Galaxy located in Cassiopeia?
  • So the explanation comes and the whole edifice crumbles.
  • He was about to offer an explanation, but she was beginning to laugh.
  • The question of food miles is swept away with the explanation that they need the sun to ripen their fruit. Times, Sunday Times
  • No explanation or suspicion that the person could be a public nuisance is required. Times, Sunday Times
  • The client would puzzle out an explanation later, if he got informed by letter of his right to exercise the warrants.
  • This crosslinguistic asymmetry has not received an entirely satisfactory explanation, despite the fact that resultative predication has been widely discussed from a variety of perspectives.
  • This neurotropic effect of NGF offers an explanation of how nerve fibres can find their way through the tangle of nerves in the brain. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1986 - Presentation Speech
  • Besides, it is not only possible, but even probable, that both theories -- that of heterogenetic generation and that of gradual development -- may have to share with one another in the explanation of the origin of species; and even that, especially for the lowest species and for the beginnings of the main types, primitive generation also has its share in the establishment of the paternity. The Theories of Darwin and Their Relation to Philosophy, Religion, and Morality
  • No explanation for his absence was forthcoming.
  • Any explanation for the use of the past participle (assis, couche (accent)) rather than the tu form of the imperitive? Fifille - French Word-A-Day
  • We should not try to seek a simple explanation for the failure to achieve numerical equity because none exists.
  • In response to my attempts a few weeks ago to demystify the day-to-day movements in share prices, one reader has asked for a similar explanation of the foreign exchange markets.
  • Since a criminal investigation is involved here she must be most careful to ensure that she is truthful at all times about what has happened and that she does not become embroiled in cobbling up an untrue explanation of events which might later become the subject of evidence under Oath in the Crown Court. Archive 2008-11-30
  • The agonizing dispute between revelation and explanation required mutual concessions by both reason and faith.
  • If his materials and workmanship were of their normal high standard, he is entitled to some explanation for this unexpected outcome.
  • The explanation is farcical and bizarre, yet there is mystery, almost coquetry, in the way Martel underplays it.
  • I got an explanation of sorts from Sinestro Corps War, where the Guardians exposit that, although earth is not the center of the universe, it is the center of the Multiverse. Archive 2010-06-06
  • Every technical explanation in the literature (that iv'e seen) as to why myosin is a motor referrs to the actual definition of a motor. Analogy, How Scientifically Powerful is It?
  • The ideas of separate color and verbal processing and suppression of incorrect verbal responses suggest an explanation for incongruency loss.
  • In vascular plant biology, electro-osmosis is also used as an alternative or supplemental explanation for the movement of polar liquids via the phloem.
  • Of course, a decision not to have children is a legitimate choice, and whoever makes it owes no explanation.
  • Part of the explanation is psychological: Pain perception is made much worse by worry, fear or the expectation of pain, he notes.
  • But corruption is only a partial explanation of some of the key strategic decisions taken by the governments.
  • The explanation lies in their mixed parentage. Times, Sunday Times
  • Nor do you, but at least mine has a logical explanation while yours merely relies on a fresh ladleful from the bottomless pit of bile that constitutes discourse from the right these days. Discourse.net: White House Puts its Media Skills to Work on Diplomacy
  • The most likely explanation is premature discharge of patients by hospital trusts under pressure of targets. Times, Sunday Times
  • How do you find a reasonable and consistent thread of explanation through this?
  • To the extent that this interpretation differed from that of the Inspector, the point needed no further explanation.
  • The explanation of the anecdote's use begins with a return to the rhetoric of travel writing.
  • One of the explanations provided for this finding is the importance of work investments as a buffer against the challenges of parenting adolescents during midlife.
  • This explanation implies a process of maternal gatekeeping.
  • Generations of students have learnt to parrot the standard explanations.
  • Here, Schumpeter provides a brilliant and pertinent explanation of the mechanism whereby non-banks can become creators of ‘circulating medium’ and credit.
  • The explanation of the science at work was clear, concise and comprehensible.
  • This is an elegant explanation, one that leads to Mauser's equally elegant peroration: ‘capacitating students to be competent citizens is our birthright.’
  • I want to hear your explanation for being late.
  • His explanation doesn't listen reasonable to us.
  • The book includes an introduction to the Report and an explanation of its significance to public health reform.
  • There seems to be no satisfactory explanation.
  • The teacher gave the children a detailed explanation of the story.
  • This must involve vigorous questioning of all research by those who may discern an alternative explanation. Times, Sunday Times
  • Poulantzas' explanation gives a key role to the relation between the capitalist state and capitalist ideology.
  • Etc. It's an substitutive explanation in that it takes care of the things the writer doesn't really understand, but doesn't do the things they understand and don't want. Mrissa: Addition, subtraction, numini...tion?
  • The rapid rise of the republic challenges every new generation of historians to formulate new explanations.
  • The facts allow of only one explanation.
  • We pointed out that this did not amount to hard evidence and that there could be other explanations for what we saw.
  • This is called the monty hall problem, clear explanation can be had Ask MetaFilter
  • One explanation for these differences is confounding by poorly measured or unmeasured risk factors that varied between communities.
  • A professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia, and two colleagues from Milan offered thixotropy as an explanation.
  • For Kant, the proper explanation of natural phenomena is in terms of laws which state patterns according to which events occur.
  • Mr Patel phoned the University for an explanation, and he was given the usual unconvincing excuses.
  • Such explanations fail to acknowledge the possibility that schools may a responsible for creating and sustaining disruptiveness.
  • Another explanation of the Osirian myth has thus been given : Osiris was the Nile god.
  • And a fourth explanation is that voting is primarily an expression of citizenship, social solidarity,[sentence dictionary] and political communication.
  • We are still waiting for a full explanation from the teacher concerned.
  • In the absence of hard evidence and faced with an event which looked so much like the popcorn Armageddon of Hollywood's top imagineers, the public have been turning to esoteric sources for explanation and comfort.
  • Over the years, the main explanation of non-use has centred on the notion of nuclear deterrence: states have been deterred from using nuclear weapons because of the concerns of retaliation in kind by adversaries.
  • In explanation the guard said that it had fallen over as the train was crossing the curve at Neville Hill.
  • You are missing the fact that since intelligent cause is indistiguishable from lawlike cause, then when ID say "The best explanation is intelligent cause, rather than blind, lawlike cause …" it is nonsense. Aiguy's Computer
  • Other cases of spontaneous combustion have a weather explanation. Times, Sunday Times
  • This duplication may either be accounted for on the theory of chorisis above alluded to, or by supposing that the extra corolline whorl is due to a series of confluent petalodic stamens; that the latter is the true explanation, in certain cases at least, is shown by some flowers of Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants
  • Any appeal to divine intervention to bridge what seem to be otherwise unbridgeable gaps in naturalistic explanations is viewed with great suspicion. Combinatorial Dependencies
  • The structure of scientific explanation: deductive and probabilistic explanation.
  • We discuss possible explanations for reduced female recombination in marsupials as a consequence of the metatherian characteristic of determinate paternal X chromosome inactivation.
  • Such an explanation does not account for the distinctive ontogeny of interpositum, or for the absence of the improbable shell form which associates very thin and dense ribbing with globose general shape.
  • Her explanation failed to carry conviction in the face of the facts.
  • If one of the prosecutors had just sent a Democratic Congressman to jail, would you be totally untempted by the White House explanation that the real cause was, say, a reluctance to prosecute abortion-clinic protesters under RICO? Politics, Lies, and 93 v. 8 - Swampland - TIME.com
  • Despite John's objections to psychological explanations, the mother functions as the sexualized prize and arbiter in this fraternal rivalry when the brothers come to blows on her doorstep.
  • A similar explanation has been proposed for other animal mimics that show evidence of vocal learning.
  • It was also pointed out that this might indicate that certain nuclei are not spherical but are deformed as an elipsoid, but no one could give a reasonable explanation of this phenomenon. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1975 - Presentation Speech
  • Currado, began to consider Giannotto and some remembrance of the boyish lineaments of her son's countenance being by occult virtue awakened in her, without awaiting farther explanation, she ran, open-armed, to cast herself upon his neck, nor did overabounding emotion and maternal joy suffer her to say a word; nay, they so locked up all her senses that she fell into her son's arms, as if dead. The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio
  • The only remaining possible explanation appears to be that seconds have gradually become shorter. Times, Sunday Times
  • But the swarm of insectile buzzing quickly cohered and built to a climax until it, too, was gone forever - without fadeout or explanation.
  • The more likely explanation is that developmental changes occurred that involved greater solidifying of romantic relationships, making stable monogamy more possible.
  • Poetry is either something that lives like fire inside you … or else it is nothing, an empty journalized bore around which pedants can endlessly drone their notes and explanations. A ringing endorsement ...
  • If governing a state is like steering a ship, however, what we need are reliable facts and sound explanations of how the vessel works.
  • I'm expecting a full explanation as to why these files were destroyed
  • Now comes a more logical explanation of why the church plum trees had fruit. Christianity Today
  • He entered into a technical explanation about software and programming.
  • Recent centuries have produced explanation after explanation for the phenomenon labelled God.
  • Everything makes sense when you're little, because what you don't understand you invent an explanation for.
  • Lately I've been circling back to the large issue of consilience, the notion that there is a unity of the sciences through a network of cause and effect explanations in physics, biology and even the lower reaches of the social sciences.
  • An alternative explanation might be a lack of predatory birds and bats. Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet
  • Underlying these explanations is an acceptance of the foundational ideas of the Antigonish Movement.
  • As noted above, creationists do not have a really satisfactory explanation for the increasing modernness of fossils.
  • This must involve vigorous questioning of all research by those who may discern an alternative explanation. Times, Sunday Times
  • Cricket, with its googlies, boseys, chinamen, silly legs, byes, sundries - the whole argot - was incomprehensible without deep explanation.
  • The ghost of a gist of an explanation for at least a few previously impenetrable imponderables began to agglutinate amongthe eddies of the Inspector's thoughts. The Mocking Program
  • Thus we make attributions of causal relatedness on the basis of prior acceptance of scientific explanations.
  • Other cases of spontaneous combustion have a weather explanation. Times, Sunday Times
  • She demanded an immediate explanation.
  • Could that be where the explanation lies as to why she gave her already suicidal husband twin pistols as a Christmas present?
  • The pithiest explanation comes from Pam Olson, a Washington tax lawyer. What I Learned in My 16 Years on the Tax Beat
  • I think you owe me an explanation.
  • By varying the angle of reflected light, an illusion is created that the ocellar scales are intermittently emitting light, thus providing an explanation of Sanderson’s original account of the lizard 'switch [ing] on its portholes.' Archive 2006-11-01
  • It is on this issue and more besides that they still strike insurmountable problems with no valid explanation.
  • The company has yet to provide an adequate explanation for its actions.
  • Abraham Sofaer, who chairs Gen-Probe's nominating and governance committee, cites what he describes as a communications mix-up that kept investors and ISS from receiving an explanation of Ms. Jemison's absences before the vote. Where the Action Is
  • One explanation is that "our civilization gets knocked back to a pre-electronic state, " such as brought about by devastating solar activity.
  • The structural explanation of social problems is pursued more thoroughly than in a developmental model.
  • Whether excuse or explanation, neither is valid. Times, Sunday Times
  • None of the explanations offered is demonstrably correct — or demonstrably incorrect.
  • When trainees have no riskfree way of getting adequate explanations, they may draw the wrong conclusions about entirely innocent research conduct.
  • This observation may be an important, and so far ignored, component in the explanation for the dilute nectars found in bird-pollinated plants.
  • It was a reasonable explanation, but his voice lacked conviction .
  • You now have an explanation for your second point, that the hours were spent in researching into the law and matters of that kind.
  • This seems to contradict your rational explanation of magic from your previous posts.
  • An explanation that I favour for the sinking is that the snort mast float valve jammed open, flooding the boat.
  • In discussing this topic on the bus from Nicosia to Kyrenia en route to the conference dinner, Nick Jaworski pointed out, that if transfer were the explanation, why is it that his Turkish students willfully produce errors like * I went Antalya, when the analogous verb + prepositional phrase exists in Turkish (even if the preposition is attached as a suffix)? May « 2010 « An A-Z of ELT
  • An alternative explanation for the general enhancement of performance is simply that the subject populations differ between the studies.
  • A plausible explanation may be that, when - oo occurs as a slang suffix rather than an infix (as in superoo for super or smasheroo for smash (er)), the primary stress of the word shifts from the first syllable to the last. VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol III No 4
  • Is their documental evidence that clearly states that Hamas will have access to monies? if so ... this needs to go right to the top in the whitehouse and an explanation veryfied. On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with...
  • They faced years in jail if convicted but nine months later all charges were dropped without explanation.
  • One explanation could be a link with the chemical serotonin, which is produced in the brain and is crucial to feelings of well-being. Times, Sunday Times
  • The photograph had no caption or explanation attached. Times, Sunday Times
  • The hardware explanations, advice on purchasing new systems, suggestions, tips, and troubleshooting make this book worthwhile purchase.
  • One possible explanation is that deep in our ancestral history it was necessary for individuals to band together to ward off tribal invaders. Times, Sunday Times
  • Some scientists claim that because there are many types of TSE agent, the virino is a more likely explanation.
  • You will find the explanation in the encyclopedia.
  • Secrecy was a keyword in their job, and Byron knew his partner assumed, from the terse explanation, that something unforeseen had happened.
  • She needed to live a little all she ever did was hide behinnd school and books she was young let her live. jess got her into a car accident. and don't get me wrong jess is one of the best looking boyfriends rory has ever had, but he left her with no explanation and then tried to come back and tell her to runaway with him away from her mom a.k.a. her bestfriend besides lane. anyway rory and logan are so cute together and he didn't mess around on her they were broken up he didn't know they were on a break cause he never been in a real relationship before. GILMORE GIRLS SHOCKER! | the TV addict
  • There were by this time a couple of reports in the antisense literature of similar misbehavior, but no explanation. The Scientist
  • One mystery turned out to have a prosaic explanation. Times, Sunday Times
  • Part of the explanation, some locals believe, lies in the nexus of a burst credit bubble and the Cretan male identity. Greek Crisis Exacts the Cruelest Toll
  • The deputy airport manager said there was no apparent explanation for the crash.
  • There have been a number of explanations, but none of them stack up.
  • Her explanation did not satisfy the teacher.
  • Considerable debate has arisen over their origin, and many explanations have been given.
  • One explanation for this lack of accord is the fact that a consensus about the subject of the right side of this wall was reached only recently.
  • I don't have an explanation - I'd like to have one but I don't - but in the meantime, without evidence, the odds of your position being right are so infinitesimal as to be irrelevant.
  • By those who rest knowledge immediately upon sense, that explanation of human action is deemed to be the truest which is nearest to sense. Theaetetus
  • Language CD-ROMs, which combine photographs, sounds, literal definitions and phonetic explanations, can contribute to restoring, sustaining and promoting of Aboriginal languages.
  • The deputy airport manager said there was no apparent explanation for the crash.
  • Another explanation of the Osirian myth has thus been given : Osiris was the Nile god.
  • There's sure to be a perfectly innocent explanation for all this?though I admit it looks bizarre.
  • Ingredient lists contained nigella seeds, manouri and galangal with little, if any, explanation. Cookbooks From Britannia Rule!
  • But your explanation makes a whole lot of sense, and has changed my views on the whole situation.
  • But there's also a lot of interesting stuff at the low end - notably The Ghost in the Machine which is a proposed explanation for some ghost sightings, whereby there's some infrasonics (caused by wind through a room or whatever) that hits the resonant frequency of the human eye, around 18Hz according to NASA (pdf) causes weird visual artifacts. Danny Ayers : Raw Blog
  • As a result, there is rarely the time to provide adequate explanations as to why a particular step is carried out.
  • no explanation for the observed phenomena
  • And that this explanation establishes the objective necessity for the overturn of these social relations if human progress is to resume.
  • We had to promise, for Noël was getting greener and more gurgly every minute, and at any moment Father or uncle might burst in foaming for an explanation, and none of us would have one except Noël, and him in this state of all-anyhow. New Treasure Seekers

Report a problem

Please indicate a type of error

Additional information (optional):

This website uses cookies to make Linguix work for you. By using this site, you agree to our cookie policy