clarification

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

clarification
    n 1: an interpretation that removes obstacles to understanding;
         "the professor's clarification helped her to understand the
         textbook" [syn: {clarification}, {elucidation},
         {illumination}]
    2: the act of removing solid particles from a liquid [syn:
       {clearing}, {clarification}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Clarification \Clar`i*fi*ca"tion\, n. [Cf. F. clarification, L.
   clarificatio glorification.]
   1. The act or process of making clear or transparent, by
      freeing visible impurities; as, the clarification of wine.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The act of freeing from obscurities.
      [1913 Webster]

            The clarification of men's ideas.     --Whewell.
      [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

60 Moby Thesaurus words for "clarification":
      allegorization, bolting, colature, cracking, decipherment,
      decoding, demonstration, demythologization,
      destructive distillation, distillation, easing, editing,
      edulcoration, elucidation, elution, elutriation, emendation,
      enlightenment, essentialization, euhemerism, exegesis,
      exemplification, expediting, expedition, explanation, explication,
      exposition, expounding, extraction, facilitation, filtering,
      filtration, hastening, illumination, illustration, leaching, light,
      lixiviation, percolation, purification, quickening, rationale,
      reason, refinement, riddling, screening, separation, sieving,
      sifting, simplification, simplifying, smoothing, solution,
      speeding, spiritualization, straining, streamlining, sublimation,
      unlocking, winnowing