Words / F / General

flesh out

verb/fleʃ aʊt/

B2CEFR level
25/100Rarity: fairly common
NeutralRegister

To add more detail or substance to something that is currently only an outline or basic idea.

The concept is sound, but you'll need to flesh out the budget before the board will approve it.

Similar: expand on, elaborate

Topic: Idioms & phrasal verbs in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: Idioms & phrasal verbs