Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - explanation

~ n 1 the reasons given for why something happened or why you did something  (I'm waiting to hear your explanation.) + for  (He'd better have a good explanation for his behaviour!) + of  (Did Valerie give any explanation of why she was late?) in explanation of (=as a reason for)  (In explanation of the job cuts, the firm said that orders had been much lower than expected. | provide/come up with an explanation)  (After failing to come up with an adequate explanation, Smith was arrested for robbery.)  (- see excuse2) 2 a statement or piece of writing intended to describe how something works or make something easier to understand  (Each of the diagrams was accompanied by a simple explanation.) + of  (I'll try and give you a quick explanation of how the machine works.)