Definition of "explanation" []

• The act or process of explaining: launched into a detailed explanation. (noun)
• Something that explains: That was supposedly the explanation for their misdeeds. (noun)
• A mutual clarification of misunderstandings; a reconciliation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He does not agree with those catechetical writers who maintain that the pastor, in his catechization, must confine himself to an explanation of _Luther's explanation_."
• "The term explanation has two different meanings, in that it sometimes refers to an educative technique that precedes interpretation and is designed to help the client understand the presence and origin of developmental arrests, particularly related to separation-individuation subphase difficulties Goldstein, 1990: 148-149."
• "An attempt at a chemically based origin explanation is obvious and understandable."