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
as in to radiate
to extend outwards from or as if from a central point
most of the city's subway lines fan out from this central station
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fan (out)
Verb
-
Mosquitoes target spots where heat radiates most, like the head and neck.—
Ryan Brennan,
Miami Herald,
1 May 2026 -
That required segmenting the coil and inserting electronics within it to keep it from radiating its energy away like an antenna.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Batting from the right side, Romo’s home run to left-center against Suter in the sixth extended the lead to 4-1.—
LaMond Pope,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Apr. 2026
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Coach Luis Enrique's PSG is at full strength while Vincent Kompany's Bayern has already clinched a record-extending 35th Bundesliga championship and remains on course for a treble.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Young plants benefit from pinching back early in the growing season to encourage branching.—
Kim Toscano,
Southern Living,
4 May 2026
-
To further control the shrub’s size, look for branching among the remaining stems.—
Beth Botts,
Chicago Tribune,
2 May 2026
Verb
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The chain eventually expanded to other nameplates — Banana Republic and Old Navy — and now generates more than $15 billion in sales globally.—
Anne D'Innocenzio,
Chicago Tribune,
5 May 2026
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That means expanding the Renter’s Tax Credit, protecting homeowners from rising costs and making sure renters know their rights and can access homelessness prevention services.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
Verb
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The Moon in Aquarius moves through your 6th House and trines Venus in Gemini, making routines and helpful exchanges flow smoothly.—
Tarot.com,
Hartford Courant,
9 May 2026
-
Underlying such obvious acts of aggression lies an insidious tendency for transnational repression to flow from despots into democracies, oppressing lawyers of all nationalities in the process.—
Irwin Cotler,
Time,
8 May 2026
Verb
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To quantify spatial variations, peak emission frequencies are translated into radial distances and compared against a polynomial baseline to derive ( r_\perp ), a measure of perpendicular displacement.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
3 May 2026
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The trail, which derives its name from the slaughterhouses that first existed in the 1600s, also served as the backdrop for Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's 1982 movie, Laberinto de Pasiones.—
Stacy Lambe,
PEOPLE,
2 May 2026
Verb
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After tracking a large school of Mobula rays for some time, Bingqiam Gao decided to try a different approach: Get ahead and wait.—
Cecilia Rodriguez,
Forbes.com,
19 Apr. 2026
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The PlayStation 5 Pro is a more powerful spin on the vanilla PS5, thanks to ray tracing and AI upscaling that give games a visual boost.—
Will Greenwald,
PC Magazine,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Minnesota and Montreal had already been playing fast and aggressive hockey against one another to open the 2026 Walter Cup Playoffs.—
Theodore Tollefson,
Twin Cities,
8 May 2026
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The Ice Cream Shack, which opened in late April from owner Jorge Prado, leans into both scoops and paletas with flavors like cheesecake, Dubai chocolate, Ferrero Rocher, lemon, mango, tres leches and watermelon.—
Brock Keeling,
Oc Register,
7 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Fan (out).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fan%20%28out%29. Accessed 10 May. 2026.
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