spread out

verb

spread out; spreading out; spreads out

1

: to open, arrange, or place (something) over a large area

He spread out the map on the table.

He spread the cards out on the table.

The cards were spread out across the table.

2

: to be open, arranged, or extended over a large area

The city is spread out over a wide area.

3

: to move (parts of the body) outward or away from each other

Spread your arms out.

There's no room on the couch to spread yourself out.

4

: to divide up (something) over a period of time or among members of a group

They spread the work out among the committee members.

The course is spread out over two semesters.

5

: to move apart from the other members of a group especially to search an area

The police spread out to search the area faster.

Examples of spread out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Not to be outdone, other tick species are also spreading out and causing more misery. — Meg Tirrell, CNN Money, 14 July 2026

Playa de San Antonio still has the feel of a traditional Spanish beach town - just with more space to spread out. — Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes.com, 11 July 2026

In this case, the Nature paper argued that, at multibillion-light-year scales, the universe’s contents weren’t spread out as uniformly as scientists had thought. — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 9 July 2026

The county has already seen 400,000 residents lose their Medi-Cal coverage, with the bulk of the cuts still to come from a multi-tiered law spread out over several years. — Steve Scauzillo, Daily News, 7 July 2026

Rhymes for spread out

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