Explain and React

Explain

Explain verb - To make plain or understandable.

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React and explain are semantically related. In some cases you can use "React" instead a verb "Explain".

React verb - To act or behave in response (as to a stimulus or influence).

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Explain and react are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Explain" instead a verb "React".

ability	explain ability	react ability
truth	explain truth	react truth
name	explain name	react name
amount	explain amount	react amount
Other words: time, fact, way, characters, bit, feelings, times.

Discworld often has characters who, after making a pun(e) or other clever word play, would usually start to explain the joke before the other character even has the time to react to said joke.

Source: Don't Explain the Joke
There's also the Aozaki sisters; it's best to explain how they respectively react to meeting somebody with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

Source: Sibling Yin-Yang
This doesn't explain why his holograms react to being punched by falling or flying across the room, as this means they must have been programmed to do that, for some reason.

Source: Hard Light

Cite this Source

React and Explain. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/explain/react

Explain & React. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/explain/react>.

React or Explain. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/explain/react.

Google Ngram Viewer shows how "explain" and "react" have occurred on timeline