How to spell demonstrate

hear itdem·on·strate/'dɛmən,streɪt/verbSilent and tricky

What it means: To show or explain something.

In a sentence: The teacher will demonstrate how to draw a star.

The part people get wrong

Often misspelled as demostrate or demonstratee.

Same family: demonstration, demonstrative, demonstrator, show, prove. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Demonstrate” comes from the Latin word “demonstrare,” which means “to show clearly” or “to point out,” built from de- (‘completely’) and monstrare (‘to show’). It’s related to words like “monster,” which originally meant a sign or warning from the gods.

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