dilated; dilating
Definition of dilate
1a
: to become enlarged or widened
Kim's eyes dilated while the outdoor stadium rocked in celebration.— Ralph Wiley … arterioles continually dilate and constrict.— Janet Raloff
also
: to display or become affected by expansion or widening of a body part
The expectant mother was dilating slowly. [=The expectant mother's cervix was dilating slowly.]
b
: to become expanded in extent
Understandably, a tendency to philosophize dilated with old age.— Anthony Powell Time dilates when you mentally hop continents.— Bret Wallach
2
: to comment at length : discourse
—usually used with on or upon It's no small irony that a man who made a career out of dilating on failure should have ended up a success.— James AtlasHe dwells and dilates upon every highlight and lowlight … — The New Yorker
1a
: to enlarge, widen, or cause to expand
Nitric oxide is a potent vasodilator that increases blood flow by dilating blood vessels.— Ruth MacPete Inhalers, the standard treatment for asthma, relieve wheezing by delivering an agent that dilates the bronchioles …— Tony Dajer Cocaine … increases the heart rate, raises the blood pressure and, in large doses, increases the body temperature and dilates the pupils of the eyes.— Craif Van Dyke and Robert Byck
b
: to expand in extent
dilate our cultural knowledge Like millions of other urban youths in the 1960s, Tian got a chance to dilate his horizons when he was sent into the countryside during the Cultural Revolution to learn from the peasantry.— Lawrence Chua
2
archaic
: to describe or set forth at length or in detail
Do me the favor to dilate at full / What hath befallen of them …— William Shakespeare
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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Time Traveler for dilate
The first known use of dilate was in the 14th century
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