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Glite Dictionary
to make oneself clear

to make oneself clear

545 3.4
Say something so other people understand what you mean
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : hacerse entender
  • Now didn't I make myself clear, or don't you take orders?
  • want to make clear
  • make it very clear
  • also make clear

Examples

Synonyms

to clarify
vsto make oneself clear
248 3.3

To make something clear so others can understand it

is more about the speaker's act of ensuring personal intentions are understood
to articulate
vsto make oneself clear
85 4.4

To say or write your ideas clearly so others understand

is narrower, centering on being understood rather than stylistic clarity
to get across
vsto make oneself clear
67 3.0

Make an idea or message clear so other people understand it

emphasizes the speaker's effort to be understood across situations
to clearly state
vsto make oneself clear
34 2.7

Say or write something so people have no doubt

focuses on overall personal clarity rather than only direct declarations
to put over
vsto make oneself clear
  • UK
8 3.7

To explain an idea so people understand it

stresses the individual's role in making their meanings easily understood
to speak clearly
vsto make oneself clear
7 1.0

Say words so other people can easily understand you

focuses more on the content being understood, not just pronunciation
to put across
vsto make oneself clear
3 3.5

Make an idea or opinion clear so others understand

is more about the speaker's general intent to be understood
to put oneself across
vsto make oneself clear
6.7

Express your ideas and personality clearly so others understand you

focuses mainly on making ideas and intentions clear to others

Antonyms

to confuse
266 1.9

Make someone unable to think clearly or make something hard to understand

How Clear

to spell out
79 3.5
to make oneself clear
545 3.4
to say
∞ 5.1
to hint
136 2.0
to mumble
103 4.9

Surface Forms

make oneself clear infinitive
made oneself clear past
made oneself clear past participle
making oneself clear present participle
makes oneself clear third person singular

Morphology

make + oneself + clear

The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'make' (cause), 'oneself' (reflexive: applied to the speaker), and 'clear' (easy to understand): together they mean to cause oneself to be understood. The causative pattern make + adjective is common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer this sense.

Etymology

Make oneself clear comes from the image of someone wiping away fog or a cover so others can see them well. To make oneself clear is like removing that cover so people can 'see' your meaning, so it means 'to express yourself so others understand'.