Elaborate

• POS: Adjective, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: e=lab=o=rate

CIDE DICTIONARY

Elaborate, a. [L. elaboratus, p. p. of elaborare to work out; e out + laborare to labor, labor labor. See Labor.].

 Wrought with labor; finished with great care; studied; executed with exactness or painstaking; as, an elaborate discourse; an elaborate performance; elaborate research.  [1913 Webster]
"Drawn to the life in each elaborate page."

Syn. -- Labored; complicated; studied; perfected; high-wrought.

Elaborate, v. t. 

•  To produce with labor  [1913 Webster]

  "They in full joy elaborate a sigh,"  [1913 Webster]
•  To perfect with painstaking; to improve or refine with labor and study, or by successive operations; as, to elaborate a painting or a literary work.  [1913 Webster]

  "The sap is . . . still more elaborated and exalted as it circulates through the vessels of the plant."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Elaborate, adj. & v.
--adj.
1 carefully or minutely worked out.
2 highly developed or complicated.
--v.tr.
1 a work out or explain in detail. b (absol.) go into details (I need not elaborate).
2 produce by labour.
3 (of a natural agency) produce (a substance etc.) from its elements or sources.

Derivative

elaborately adv. elaborateness n. elaboration n. elaborative adj. elaborator n.

Etymology

L elaboratus past part. of elaborare (as E-, labor work)

THESAURUS

Elaborate

Babylonian, Byzantine, Corinthian, Gongoresque, Gongoristic, Marinistic, adorn, affected, amplify, arabesque, artificial, assemble, assiduous, awe-inspiring, awful, balled up, barbaric, baroque, beautify, build, busy, cast, chichi, clarify, comment, complete, complex, complicated, compose, compound, concoct, confounded, confused, construct, convolute, convoluted, crabbed, create, cultivate, daedal, decorate, decorated, deluxe, descant, detail, detailed, develop, devious, devise, dilate, diligent, discuss, dressy, dwell upon, elaborated, elegant, embellish, embellished, embrangled, embroider, enlarge, enlarge upon, enrich, entangled, enter into detail, erect, euphuistic, evolve, expand, expatiate, explain, explicate, expound, extravagant, extrude, fabricate, fancy, fashion, festoon, fine, finish, flamboyant, florid, flourish, flowery, form, formulate, fouled up, frame, frilly, fudge together, fussy, get up, gild, glorious, go into, gordian, grand, grandiose, high-wrought, hyperelegant, implicated, imposing, impressive, indite, industrious, interpret, intricate, involuted, involve, involved, knotted, knotty, labor, labored, labyrinthian, labyrinthine, load with ornament, loused up, luxuriant, luxurious, magnificent, majestic, make, make up, mannered, manufacture, many-faceted, matted, mature, mazy, meandering, messed up, mixed up, mold, moresque, mucked up, multifarious, noble, operose, ornament, ornate, ostentatious, overcharge, overdone, overelaborate, overelegant, overlabored, overlay, overload, overnice, overrefined, overworked, overwrought, painstaking, palatial, particularize, patch together, perfect, perplexed, picturesque, piece together, plush, polish, posh, precieuse, precieux, precious, prefabricate, prepare, pretentious, pretty-pretty, princely, produce, proud, put together, put up, raise, ramified, rear, refine, rehearse in extenso, relate at large, rich, ripen, ritzy, rococo, roundabout, run up, screwed up, season, sedulous, set up, shape, snarled, sophisticated, spell out, splendacious, splendid, splendiferous, stately, studied, subtle, sumptuous, superb, superfancy, superfine, swank, swanky, swell, tangled, tangly, thorough, thoroughgoing, trick out, twisted, unfold, unnatural, varnish, whomp up, work out, write

ROGET THESAURUS

Elaborate

Improvement

VB improve, be better, become better, get better, mend, amend, advance, ascend, increase, fructify, ripen, mature, pick up, come about, rally, take a favorable turn, turn over a new leaf, turn the corner, raise one's head, sow one's wild oats, recover, be better, be improved by, turn to right account, turn to good account, turn to best account, profit by, reap the benefit of, make good use of, make capital out of, place to good account, render better, improve, mend, amend, better, ameliorate, meliorate, correct, decrassify, improve upon, refine upon, rectify, enrich, mellow, elaborate, fatten, promote, cultivate, advance, forward, enhance, bring forward, bring on, foster, invigorate, touch up, rub up, brush up, furbish up, bolster up, vamp up, brighten up, warm up, polish, cook, make the most of, set off to advantage, prune, repair, put in order, review, revise, make corrections, make improvements, doctor, purify, relieve, refresh, infuse new blood into, recruit, reform, remodel, reorganize, new model, view in a new light, think better of, appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober, palliate, mitigate, lessen an evil.

Preparation

VB prepare, get ready, make ready, make preparations, settle preliminaries, get up, sound the note of preparation, set in order, put in order, forecast, prepare the ground, plow the ground, dress the ground, till the soil, cultivate the soil, predispose, sow the seed, lay a train, dig a mine, lay the groundwork, fix the groundwork, lay the basis, fix the basis, lay the foundations, fix the foundations, dig the foundations, erect the scaffolding, lay the first stone, roughhew, cut out work, block out, hammer out, lick into shape, elaborate, mature, ripen, mellow, season, bring to maturity, nurture, hatch, cook, brew, temper, anneal, smelt, barbecue, infumate, maturate, equip, arm, man, fit-out, fit up, furnish, rig, dress, garnish, betrim, accouter, array, fettle, fledge, dress up, furbish up, brush up, vamp up, refurbish, sharpen one's tools, trim one's foils, set, prime, attune, whet the knife, whet the sword, wind up, screw up, adjust, put in trim, put in train, put in gear, put in working order, put in tune, put in a groove for, put in harness, pack, train, inure, breed, prepare for, rehearse, make provision for, take steps, take measures, take precautions, provide, provide against, beat up for recruits, open the door to, set one's house in order, make all snug, clear the decks, clear for action, close one's ranks, shuffle the cards, prepare oneself, serve an apprenticeship, lay oneself out for, get into harness, gird up one's loins, buckle on one's armor, reculer pour mieux sauter, prime and load, shoulder arms, get the steam up, put the horses to, guard against, make sure against, forearm, make sure, prepare for the evil day, have a rod in pickle, provide against a rainy day, feather one's nest, lay in provisions, make investments, keep on foot, be prepared, be ready, hold oneself in readiness, keep one's powder dry, lie in wait for, anticipate, principiis obstare, veniente occurrere morbo.

N preparation, providing, provision, providence, anticipation, precaution, preconcertation, predisposition, forecast, rehearsal, note of preparation, arrangement, clearance, adjustment, tuning, equipment, outfit, accouterment, armament, array, ripening, maturation, evolution, elaboration, concoction, digestion, gestation, batching, incubation, sitting, groundwork, first stone, cradle, stepping-stone, foundation, scaffold, scaffolding, echafaudage, training, inurement, novitiate, cooking, cookery, brewing, culinary art, tilling, plowing sowing, semination, cultivation, preparedness, readiness, ripeness, mellowness, maturity, un impromptu fait a loisir, preparer, trainer, pioneer, trailblazer, avant-courrier, avant-coureur, voortrekker, sappers and miners, pavior, navvy, packer, stevedore, warming pan, preparing, in preparation, in course of preparation, in agitation, in embryo, in hand, in train, afoot, afloat, on foot, on the stocks, on the anvil, under consideration, brewing, batching, forthcoming, brooding, in store for, in reserve, precautionary, provident, preparative, preparatory, provisional, inchoate, under revision, preliminary, prepared, in readiness, ready, ready to one's band, ready made, ready cut and dried: made to one's hand, handy, on the table, in gear, in working order, in working gear, snug, in practice, ripe, mature, mellow, pukka, practiced, labored, elaborate, highly-wrought, smelling of the lamp, worked up, in full feather, in best bib and tucker, in harness, at harness, in the saddle, in arms, in battle array, in war paint, up in arms, armed at all points, armed to the teeth, armed cap a pie, sword in hand, booted and spurred, in utrumque paratus, semper paratus, on the alert, at one's post, in preparation, in anticipation of, against, for, abroach, a bove majori discit arare minor, looking before and after, si vis pacem para bellum.

Exertion

N exertion, effort, strain, tug, pull, stress, throw, stretch, struggle, spell, spurt, spirt, stroke of work, stitch of work, a strong pull a long pull and a pull all together, dead lift, heft, gymnastics, exercise, exercitation, wear and tear, ado, toil and trouble, uphill work, hard work, warm work, harvest time, labor, work, toil, travail, manual labor, sweat of one's brow, swink, drudgery, slavery, fagging, hammering, limae labor, industry, industriousness, operoseness, operosity, trouble, pains, duty, resolution, energy, laboring, laborious, operose, elaborate, strained, toilsome, troublesome, wearisome, uphill, herculean, gymnastic, palestric, hard-working, painstaking, strenuous, energetic, hard at work, on the stretch, laboriously, lustily, pugnis et calcibus, with might and main, with all one's might, with a strong hand, with a sledge hammer, with much ado, to the best of one's abilities, totis viribus, vi et armis, manibus pedibusque, tooth and nail, unguibus et rostro, hammer and tongs, heart and soul, through thick and thin, by the sweat of one's brow, suo Marte, aide-toi le ciel t'aidera, and still be doing, never done, buen principio la mitad es hecha, cosa ben fatta e' fatta due volie, it is better to wear out than to rust out, labor omnia vincit, labor, wide as the earth, has its summit in Heaven, le travail du corps delivre des peines de l'esprit, manu forti, ora et labora.

Completion

VB effect, effectuate, accomplish, achieve, compass, consummate, hammer out, bring to maturity, bring to perfection, perfect, complete, elaborate, do, execute, make, go through, get through, work out, enact, bring about, bring to bear, bring to pass, bring through, bring to a head, despatch, dispatch, knock off, finish off, polish off, make short work of, dispose of, set at rest, perform, discharge, fulfill, realize, put in practice, put in force, carry out, carry into effect, carry into execution, make good, be as good as one's word, do thoroughly, not do by halves, go the whole hog, drive home, be in at the death, carry through, play out, exhaust, fill the bill, finish, bring to a close, wind up, stamp, clinch, seal, set the seal on, put the seal, give the final touch, to, put the last, put the finishing hand to, put the finishing touches on, crown, crown all, cap, ripen, culminate, come to a head, come to a crisis, come to its end, die a natural death, die of old age, run its course, run one's race, touch the goal, reach the goal, attain the goal, reach, get in the harvest.