explication

[L. explicatio: cf. F. explication.]

1. The act of opening, unfolding, or explaining; explanation; exposition; interpretation.

The explication of our Savior's parables.

2. The sense given by an expositor. Bp. Burnet.

noun

Something that serves to explain or clarify: clarification, construction, decipherment, elucidation, exegesis, explanation, exposition, illumination, illustration, interpretation. Archaic enucleation. See explain/baffle.

explication, the attempt to analyse a literary work thoroughly, giving full attention to its complexities of form and meaning. The term has usually been associated with the kind of analysis practised in the USA by New Criticism and in Britain under the name of practical criticism. Explication in this sense is normally a detailed explanation of the manner in which the language and formal structure of a short poem work to achieve a unity of form and content; such analysis tends to emphasize ambiguities and complexities of the text while putting aside questions of historical or biographical context. A less thorough form of analysis is the French school exercise known as explication de texte, in which students give an account of a work's meaning and its stylistic features.

adjective: explicatory or explicative.

Most generally, a synonym for explanation. More specifically, the explication of a concept is the process of revealing its nature without giving an explicit definition, but for instance by describing its function or otherwise placing it on the intellectual map.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: the act of making clear or removing obscurity from the meaning of a word or symbol or expression etc.

Meaning #2: a detailed explanation of the meaning of something