Dictionary

expansion en · NOUN

Pronunciation

/ɪkˈspænʃən/
(US) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from French expansion, from Latin expānsiō. By surface analysis, expand + -sion.

Meanings

(countable, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding.
- […] 1919, a time when African American hopes for a just future following their service in World War I were dashed by violent reassertions of white supremacy, including the efflorescence and expansion of the KKK into the Midwestern and northwestern U.S. 2015, Heidi Nast, “Pit Bulls, Slavery, and Whiteness in the Mid- to Late-Nineteenth-Century U.S.”, in Rosemary-Claire Collard, Kathryn Gillespie, editors, Critical Animal Geographies, page 138:
- The expansion of metals and plastics in response to heat is well understood.
(countable, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ The fractional change in unit length per unit length per unit temperature change.
- Look up the expansion of 1018 steel at stick welding temps and figure out how far this thing's gonna bend once we weld it up.
(countable, qualifier:building, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ A new addition.
- My new office is in the expansion behind the main building.
(countable, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ A product to be used with a previous product.
- This expansion requires the original game board.
(countable, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ That which is expanded; expanse; extended surface.
- Mother of mighty Rome's imperial line, / Delight of man, and of the powers divine, / Venus, all-bounteous queen! whose genial power / Diffuses beauty in unbounded store / Through seas, and fertile plains, and all that lies / Beneath the starred expansion of the skies. a. 1804, James Beattie, “The Beginning of the First Book of Lucretius”, in The Poetical Works of James Beattie (The Aldine Edition of the British Poets), London: Bell and Daldy […], published 1866, →OCLC, pages 170–171:
(countable, qualifier:steam engines, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ The operation of steam in a cylinder after its communication with the boiler has been cut off, by which it continues to exert pressure upon the moving piston.
(countable, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ The replacement of a short name (e.g., acronym, initialism, alphanumeric symbol, abbreviation) with the longer name that is synonymous with it, as when spelling out acronyms to ensure clarity for a general audience.
- Expansion of acronyms is often helpful for nonexpert readers (anacronyms excluded).
(countable, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ The replacement of a short name (e.g., acronym, initialism, alphanumeric symbol, abbreviation) with the longer name that is synonymous with it, as when spelling out acronyms to ensure clarity for a general audience. ▸ The string of text thus substituted.
- The acronym "FNDs" can mean either "functional neurologic disorders" or "focal neurologic deficits", so you'd better use the expansion instead of the acronym, for clarity in this context; readers of this paragraph may not have read, or remember, which definition you used 40 pages earlier.
(abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ Ellipsis of expansion pack.
alt of expansion pack
(countable, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ An increase in the market value of an economy over time.
- Secondly, the cyclical expansion now taking shape in the United States is starting from a relatively high level; it has much less headroom than earlier expansions that began from a deeply deflated recession base. 1971, National Industrial Conference Board, The Conference Board Record - Volume 8, page 4:
- In addition, new technologies are adopted which are less labour-using, thus unemploying workers. Over the postwar years, factors of this sort have contributed to a gradual upward drift in unemployment rates, even during expansions. 1978, Fred Caloren, Michel Chossudovsky, Paul Gingrich, Is the Canadian Economy Closing Down?, Black Rose Books Ltd., →ISBN, page 88:
(countable, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ Stretching of geometric objects with flat sides.
(countable, uncountable) An act, process, or instance of expanding. ▸ The rewriting of an expression as a longer but equivalent sum of terms.

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
expansions	Number=Plur		lexicographic

Antonyms

shrinkage (antonym(s) of “act of expanding”) · contraction (antonym(s) of “act of expanding”)

Deriveds

Hypernyms

temperature coefficient

expand · expansive · expanse

Synonyms

annex · coefficient of thermal expansion

Translations (86)

sh ekspànzija (act of expanding) · cs rozšíření (act of expanding) · mk проширување (act of expanding) · sh експа̀нзија (act of expanding) · cs expanze (act of expanding) · sv tillägg (product to be used with a previous product) · be расшырэ́нне (act of expanding) · ru экспа́нсия (act of expanding) · mk експанзија (act of expanding) · tl buklad (fractional change in unit length per unit length per unit temperature change) · hy ընդլայնում (act of expanding) · th การขยายตัว (act of expanding) · bg разширение (fractional change in unit length per unit length per unit temperature change) · es expansión (act of expanding) · be экспа́нсія (act of expanding) · fi lisäosa (new addition) · sv utvidgning (act of expanding) · ga borrúlacht (act of expanding) · eo ekspansio (act of expanding) · ru расшире́ние (act of expanding) · cmn 擴大 /扩大 (act of expanding) · ru пристро́йка (new addition) · ko 팽창 (act of expanding) · fa انبساط (act of expanding) · sv expansion (new addition) · fi laajennus (act of expanding) · tl pagbuklad (act of expanding) · fa سُپانش (act of expanding) · az yayılış (act of expanding) · da ekspansion (act of expanding) · uk експа́нсія (act of expanding) · it espansione (act of expanding) · es dilatación (fractional change in unit length per unit length per unit temperature change) · sk expanzia (act of expanding) · ar تَمَدُّد (act of expanding) · fi laajennus (new addition) · bg разширение (act of expanding) · da udvidelse (act of expanding) · az ekspansiya (act of expanding) · ko 확장 (act of expanding) · uk розши́рення (act of expanding) · el επέκταση (new addition) · pt expansão (act of expanding) · pl ekspansja (act of expanding) · la expānsiō (act of expanding) · uk поши́рення (act of expanding) · el διαστολή (act of expanding) · ur تَوَسُّع (act of expanding) · sv utbyggnad (new addition) · az yayılma (act of expanding) · ja 拡張 (act of expanding) · el επέκταση (act of expanding) · hu terjeszkedés (act of expanding) · nb utvidelse (act of expanding) · da tilføjelse (product to be used with a previous product) · sl širitev (act of expanding) · de Expansion (act of expanding) · mr विस्तार (act of expanding) · nn ekspansjon (act of expanding) · fi laajennus (product to be used with a previous product) · ml വിപുലീകരണം (act of expanding) · az genişlənmə (act of expanding) · fi lämpölaajeneminen (fractional change in unit length per unit length per unit temperature change) · hy ծավալում (act of expanding) · ga leatacht (act of expanding) · bg разширяване (act of expanding) · es expansión (fractional change in unit length per unit length per unit temperature change) · sv tillbyggnad (new addition) · sk rozšírenie (act of expanding) · ar تَوَسُّع (act of expanding) · cmn 展開 /展开 (act of expanding) · fr expansion (act of expanding) · nl expansie (act of expanding) · ro expansiune (act of expanding) · sv expansion (act of expanding) · hy ընդարձակում (act of expanding) · hu kiegészítő (product to be used with a previous product) · be пашырэ́нне (act of expanding) · sl ekspanzija (act of expanding) · cmn 擴張 /扩张 (act of expanding) · nb ekspansjon (act of expanding) · fi laajentuminen (act of expanding) · az intişar (act of expanding) · ja 拡大 (act of expanding) · ta விரிவாக்கம் (act of expanding) · ja 展開 (act of expanding)