illustrate

verb

1 the etchings and photographs that illustrate the book are gruesome:

decorate, adorn, ornament, embellish, accompany;

add pictures/drawings/sketches to, provide artwork for.

2 the complex interplay of such pressures can be illustrated through a brief example:

explain, elucidate, clarify, make clear, make plain, demonstrate, point up, show, bring home, emphasize, interpret;

describe, sum up, summarize, gloss;

informal get across, get over.

3 he possessed a quicksilver wit, as illustrated by his remark to Lucy:

exemplify, show, demonstrate, display, instance, encapsulate, represent;

rare instantiate.