fan out

phrasal verb

fanned out; fanning out; fans out

: to spread apart or to cause (something) to spread apart

The police fanned out across the park in search of the suspect.

He fanned out his fingers.

Examples of fan out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Since October, Freer and his team have fanned out to capture the consequences of the blitz. —Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 12 Jan. 2026

The bad Byfield hasn’t ascended to stardom With the combination of great skating and a 6-foot-5, 225-pound frame, Quinton Byfield also has enough skill to occasionally make plays that will bring fans out of their seats. —Eric Stephens, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2026

Opposition spreads as data centers fan out A growing number of proposals are going down in defeat, sounding alarms across the data center constellation of Big Tech firms, real estate developers, electric utilities, labor unions and more. —Marc Levy, Los Angeles Times, 3 Jan. 2026

Think slow-burn mystery, with a bit of a superhero twist for all the Green Lantern fans out there. —Okla Jones, Essence, 1 Jan. 2026

Rhymes for fan out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout