The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines the verb to elucidate as the action of declaring or explaining a proposition, a work of ingenuity or a matter in general. The term finds its etymological origin in the Latin dilucidāre.

To elucidate something, therefore, is to make it clear or accessible to other people. For example: “Even if it takes me all afternoon, I am going to solve this mystery”, “The investigator believes that they are still far from solving the case”, “After solving the enigma, the detective went to Mrs. Van Houseman’s house and informed her that her husband was not dead.

In recent times, for example, the term that concerns us now has been used a lot, at a political and international level. And it is that, for example, world meetings and conferences have been held with the clear objective of being able to elucidate the future of Gaza, an enclave of Palestine that has been the object of endless confrontations and bombings or military attacks due to the eternal dispute between Israel and Palestine.

The elucidation, therefore, is linked to the understanding of something that is shared with other individuals who, in general, had not accessed the understanding of the elucidated thing. A mathematical problem that has been unanswered for centuries can be solved by a scientist. By elucidating the problem, this intellectual will share his conclusions with the rest of the scientific community and with society in general.

We would also have to say that within the journalistic field the term elucidate is also widely used. In his case, it makes sense with the creation and implementation of so-called style books. These are documents that all media have with the clear objective that in them journalists and reporters, when writing the information, can clarify all the doubts they have about grammar, the use of anglicisms, employment of the acronyms…

Nor should we forget that a very important educational branch that has its central axis in the verb elucidate is the philosophy of science. And it is that what she does is try to clarify and resolve the existing scientific theories as well as the whole set of principles that they establish.

Any unknown can be elucidated. A riddle, a riddle or an unsolved mystery are questions whose resolution is not known until someone manages to elucidate them. In this sense, the Police is in charge of elucidating the crimes so that those responsible can be tried.

Sometimes, many times people have doubts as to whether the verb is really spelled elucidate or elucidate. In this sense, it must be said that the two options are correct and also have the same meaning. That is, they are synonymous verbs.

Elucidating, on the other hand, can be associated with trying to notice what we see in the dark or at a great distance: “I can’t figure out who is talking to Mario at the door of the bar”, “On figuring out that the thief had a gun, the man tried to protect his family. ”