fan (out)

1
as in to stretch (out)
to arrange the parts of (something) over a wider area the accordionist smoothly fanned out the bellows of his instrument as he played

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fan (out)
Verb
  • Gynecological Conditions Problems in the female reproductive organs can cause radiating pain to the lower right back.
    Brandi Jones, Health, 6 Sep. 2025
  • How to change a system with a prototype Walton and Makhija’s ambitions start locally, but quickly radiate outwards.
    Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 5 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The driller responsible for it, Patton Exploration, solicited companies to extend a pipeline to the oil well to capture the gas and evaluated whether the gas could be used to mine bitcoin.
    ProPublica, ProPublica, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Bullion hit fresh highs this week, with spot values extending their record run above the $3,500 mark into the middle of the week.
    Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Anthropic's Claude has offered conversation branching for over a year, allowing users to switch between branches with navigational arrow buttons.
    Benj Edwards, ArsTechnica, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Wide open areas with branching paths and extremely verticality are key to Metroidvania games like Hollow Knight, but usually the pleasure derived from unlocking a previously dead-end space comes from having an interconnected world.
    Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 3 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The tournament expanded from 24 teams to 32 at the start of the 1999-2000 season, with a second group stage then played before being replaced with the round of 16 in 2003-04.
    Will Jeanes, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2025
  • This shift is reinforced by Russia’s push to expand its eastward infrastructure through the Power of Siberia pipelines cementing a more permanent divide in global energy markets.
    Earl Carr, Forbes.com, 4 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Raft the Animas River Colorado’s world-famous whitewater includes the Animas River, which flows by Durango.
    Cu Fleshman, Travel + Leisure, 7 Sep. 2025
  • Alcaraz flowed forward behind a forehand, but chose to try to fool Djokovic by volleying back behind him, instead of into space.
    The Athletic Tennis Staff, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • This number, an accepted consensus derived from World Bank and Asian Development Bank data, includes roughly 700 million from China, and 400 million from Southeast Asia.
    Rich Karlgaard, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Blood sugar, also known as blood glucose, is the primary fuel for the body, derived from food and released into the bloodstream.
    Amber J. Tresca, Verywell Health, 6 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The film opens just as its predecessor ended, with a handy recap explaining how Ne Zha and his angelic counterpart, Ao Bing, ended up in need of bodily reincarnation.
    Derek Robertson, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2025
  • For the Cowboys, the scoring opened with two touchdown drives finished off by Javonte Williams rushing scores and two Brandon Aubrey field goals.
    Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The result is a patchwork of underperforming MPAs that have done little to stem declines.
    Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025
  • And after Yuki Matsui worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning to stem the Twins’ three-inning run flow, Cronenworth led off the seventh with a double.
    Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Aug. 2025
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.

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fan (out).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fan%20%28out%29. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!