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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In the days after violence, army personnel fanned out across the country. Omkar Khandekar, NPR, 20 Sep. 2025 Both displace massive amounts of water, which generate ocean waves that fan out from the quake’s epicenter or the volcano’s vent. George Petras, USA Today, 18 Sep. 2025 Tsunami waves can travel at up to 600 miles per hour, fanning out across oceans from the epicenter of the quake. Hannah Parry john Feng, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Sep. 2025 Cardi also shared that Diggs has made a football fan out of her. Erin Clack, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fan out

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Cite this Entry

“Fan out.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fan%20out. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.

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