expands

present tense third-person singular of expand
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2
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as in extends
to arrange the parts of (something) over a wider area a spare leaf for those times when we have to expand the dining table to accommodate extra guests

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of expands The speaker lineup also reflects just how far the festival expands of beyond traditional advertising. Kate Hardcastle, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026 Human spaceflight often expands beyond purely technical or scientific endeavors into ones of national pride and importance. Margaret Landis, The Conversation, 18 June 2026 As the polymer expands, the tiny pores dilate, allowing larger molecules to slip through. Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 18 June 2026 The gas in your stomach expands as the pressure drops, leaving you bloated. Ryan Brennan, Charlotte Observer, 12 June 2026 The stretchy fabric expands to move with you whether you’re seated or walking around the cabin. Nicol Natale, PEOPLE, 12 June 2026 Cabins aren’t fully pressurized, so the gas in your stomach expands at altitude and leaves you bloated. Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 12 June 2026 Every successful launch expands the market, and autonomous spacecraft have already proven the model, exploring Mars, flying past Pluto, and leaving the solar system without a single human aboard. Omar Kardoudi may 29, New Atlas, 29 May 2026 Its acquisition of the 219 Big Lots stores expands its footprint to over 600 stores across 18 states. Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Apr. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for expands
Verb
  • As this increasingly audacious killer develops a devoted following among the city’s powerless, Bishop becomes convinced these murders connect back to SF’s most powerful man, his own father, Lincoln Graves (John Malkovich).
    Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 22 June 2026
  • The Federal Emergency Management Agency develops and updates maps that determine who's in a flood plain and must buy insurance, and to help communities plan.
    CBS News, CBS News, 22 June 2026
Verb
  • Researchers think that making art also increases neuroplasticity (the ability to form new connections).
    Mark Gurarie, Verywell Health, 17 June 2026
  • That increases the risk that individuals’ personal data could be exposed, misused or commercialized without their consent.
    Sharon Lerner, ProPublica, 17 June 2026
Verb
  • After years of abject failures, underachievement or agonising near-misses, Tuchel was hired to end England’s wait for a major international men’s trophy, which now extends to 60 years.
    Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 16 June 2026
  • The logistics advantage The military value of better batteries extends well beyond longer flight times.
    Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 16 June 2026
Verb
  • Historic elements of the former hotel remain today, including a grand piano and white stone, spiral staircase that rises up to the second-floor banquet rooms.
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 June 2026
  • The Love Goddess Venus rises in your 10th House of Career and Status, standing opposite cosmic detective Pluto in your 4th House of Home, so public goals confront private truths that need recognition.
    Tarot.com, Chicago Tribune, 17 June 2026
Verb
  • Rapid volumetric heating accelerates dye diffusion and allows for deeper penetration of the prickly pear peel pigment molecules (betalain) into the wool fiber interior swollen by the heat.
    Jennifer Bringle, Footwear News, 17 June 2026
  • Alibaba’s move comes as competition in physical AI accelerates globally.
    Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 17 June 2026
Verb
  • Season 3 opens with the Battle of the Gullet, the largest naval battle in the history of Westeros, and the moment that the Dance of Dragons kicks off in earnest.
    Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 20 June 2026
  • The student-run Yale Summer Cabaret opens its summer season dance/theater adaptation by TImothy Hartel of Euripides’ ever-popular tragedy about the god Dionysus descending to Earth and causing all kinds of trouble.
    Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 20 June 2026
Verb
  • Weather service and public safety officials said the safest thing to do is to stay away from the beaches altogether until the southern swells start subsiding.
    Rick Hurd, Mercury News, 19 June 2026
  • Storms and swells reshape the landscape.
    Laylan Connelly, Oc Register, 18 June 2026
Verb
  • This is the first of a new type of rideshare program flying to that orbit that augments SpaceX’s Transporter program that flies to SSO.
    Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 17 June 2026
  • The core group now augments itself with the bass clarinetist Madison Greenstone, trombonist Weston Olencki, and, for the first time in the band’s history, vocals.
    Jayson Greene, Pitchfork, 16 June 2026

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“Expands.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/expands. Accessed 23 Jun. 2026.

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