Other forms: clarifications
A clarification is an explanation that makes a muddled point clear. Saying the same thing again, better.
The word is a favourite of officials and press offices, since issuing a clarification is a way of correcting something without admitting there was a mistake, and readers have long since learned to translate it. Seeking clarification is the polite way to say you did not understand. The verb is clarify. There is a quite separate cooking sense, since clarified butter has had the milk solids removed to leave it clear.
1nounclarificationAn explanation making something clearer.
“He asked for clarification of the third paragraph.”
Proto-Indo-European
*dʰeh₁-
Latin
clārificātiō
Middle French
clarification
English, today
clarification
Borrowed from Middle French clarification, from Latin clārificātiō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 22 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word