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Definition of illustrate : 1. Illustrated; distinguished; illustrious.
2. To adorn with pictures, as a book or a subject; to elucidate with pictures, as a history or a romance.
3. To give renown or honor to; to make illustrious; to glorify.
4. To make clear, bright, or luminous.
5. To make clear, intelligible, or apprehensible; to elucidate, explain, or exemplify, as by means of figures, comparisons, and examples.
6. To set in a clear light; to exhibit distinctly or conspicuously.

Synonyms:

simplify, expound, explain, gild, caricature, rough out, define, deck, embellish, profile, epitomize, interpret, bedeck, lay out, put across, typify, adorn, illuminate, picture, elucidate, pictorialize, delineate, garnish, unriddle, ornament, explicate, shade, describe, set forth, symbol, redraw, clear, evidence, symbolize, stand for, set out, construe, run through, substitute, pin down, beautify, demystify, spell out, etch, decorate, clarify, instance, get across

flaunt, show, convince, unveil, present, expose, display, unmask, flourish, uncover

betoken, document, determine, evince, demonstrate, state, corroborate, exemplify, establish, manifest, support, connote, vouch, prove, adduce, indicate, certify, witness, observe, confirm, avouch, attest, substantiate, testify, exhibit, validate, declare, authenticate, depose

approximate, replicate, duplicate, represent, simulate, ape, cast, photograph, render, silhouette, outline, imitate, portray, copy, depict, model

draw, sketch, trace, paint, doodle

Usage examples:

• An incident which occurred may illustrate this truth. - "Success With Small Fruits", E. P. Roe.
• They are less primitive in form than the story which they illustrate. - "Folklore as an Historical Science", George Laurence Gomme.
• Every story he told us illustrated and was meant to illustrate this side of his character. - "The Red Hand of Ulster", George A. Birmingham.