Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Serving to explain; tending to expound.
  • Setting forth, or set forth, as an instance; specifically, in logic, singular; relating to a single individual. Thus, an expository syllogism is one in which the middle term is a singular.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Pertaining to, or containing, exposition; serving to explain; explanatory; illustrative; exegetical.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Serving to explain, explicate, or elucidate; expositive; of or relating to exposition.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective serving to expound or set forth

Etymologies

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Examples

  • What strange power gives blog authors the ability to write a loose ramble and call it 'expository'?

    Does Science Fiction, in Fact, Suck? 2007

  • But crossing that kind of barrier requires rhetorical tools that go beyond plain expository argument.

    Stealing a thing leaves one thing less 2009

  • Unfortunately, there have been an awful lot of books about World War II, and The Postmistress, while intelligent and well meaning, doesn’t ultimately have much new to add ... the dialogue lacks snap ... and [Blake] engages in expository overload that’s really not needed for such a well-known tale.

    The Postmistress: Summary and book reviews of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. 2010

  • The latter, as a rule, is the more important; but if, as in the case of Origen, more attention be paid to the former, the homily will be called expository rather than moral or hortatory.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913

  • There's a new 'blog about the blog' blog on SBNation called expository post.

    Clips Nation 2008

  • One could say that Dixon proceeds through a kind of expository shorthand -- "Rings twice more and stops" -- that while "attached" to the character as a frame of reference is otherwise a way of dispensing with the overscrupulous explication of consciousness that so often and so tediously passes for "psychological realism" in contemporary literary fiction.

    Narrative Strategies 2009

  • And the notion that derision is a tool of logic or 'expository' illumination.

    Does Science Fiction, in Fact, Suck? 2007

  • The next time you sit down to compose a corporate image brochure or virtually any kind of expository text, ask yourself the question: I know that no one wants to read what I am going to write, so how can I write something they will want to read?

    How to write a corporate image brochure people will truly want to read « Articles « Literacy News 2009

  • These are the same kind of expository lectures as might be given in a history or sociology class by an overzealous teaching assistant, speaking on the assumption that his students are mostly brain-dead and need to be spoon-fed or they will starve.

    Archive 2009-02-01 Steve Perry 2009

  • He may be low-key speaker, but he has plenty to say, and most of it is gold, rather than the “Oh, here’s where Vicki Vale is shown into the Batcave” kind of expository stuff found on many commentaries.

    Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat 2005

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