Explicitly

How to spell explicitly

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce explicitly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does explicitly mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is stated clearly, fully, and leaving no room for confusion or doubt.

Explicitly in a sentence

• The contract explicitly states that refunds must be requested within thirty days.

• She explicitly asked the team not to share the figures before the announcement.

Where does explicitly come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb explicare, meaning 'to unfold' or 'to unroll', built from ex- 'out' and plicare 'to fold'. The image is literally that of opening out something that had been folded shut, so that what was hidden becomes plain to see. Its past participle, explicitus, gave the adjective 'explicit', describing anything spelled out fully and left in no doubt, and English added the everyday adverb ending -ly to form 'explicitly' by the 1600s. The same plicare root quietly survives in a crowd of relatives such as 'imply' (to fold in), 'apply', 'complicated', and 'reply'. Remembering that the heart of the word is plic, 'fold', helps fix the single c and the -it- before the ending, which is where careful writers sometimes slip.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• plic (fold)
• -it (past-participle stem)
• -ly (adverb suffix)