STRETCHES Synonyms: 207 Similar and Opposite Words

stretches 1 of 2

noun

plural of stretch

as in expanses

a wide space or area a narrow stretch of beach below the cliffs

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Relevance

as in whiles

an indefinite but usually short period of time there was a cardinal at our bird feeder for a short stretch last spring

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as in ranges

the distance or extent between possible extremes the stories were written over a considerable stretch of time

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as in distances

the space or amount of space between two points, lines, surfaces, or objects the longest stretch of the drive without any place to get gas

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stretches

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of stretch

as in exaggerates

to add to the interest of by including made-up details it was stretching the truth to say she'd been in the movies: she was once an extra whose scene was cut in the final version

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in pulls

to injure by overuse, misuse, or pressure I stretched a back muscle, and the pain is killing me

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as in lengthens

to make longer the time it would take to fix the car got stretched from three hours to two days when the part we needed had to be ordered

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as in tries

to subject (a personal quality or faculty) to often excessive stress your whining is stretching my patience to the limit

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as in tightens

to draw tight if the canvas isn't properly stretched over the frame, there will be sagging over time

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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 stretches

Noun

Its slate of more than 60 original properties in development stretches from film and animation to games, merchandise and immersive experiences. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026 To try to ease tensions during loud stretches of construction, Zuckerberg’s staff handed out gifts like noise-canceling headphones. — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026 Workers included street signs and sidewalks, curbs and stretches of road damaged from the storm, from the heavy equipment that was brought in or trees falling, Kern said. — Michelle L. Quinn, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026 Use simple neck stretches to release neck tension Phones tend to freeze your head in one spot. — Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 8 Oct. 2026 There are libraries, telephone calls, microfiche readers and long stretches in which the audience is invited to examine documents alongside her. — Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2026 That could make the storm track less consistent and lead to bigger swings between warm, dry stretches and colder, stormier periods. — CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026 The rhythm section likewise tends toward the unvarying, setting a pulse or pattern and sticking with it for long stretches. — Reed Jackson, SPIN, 6 Oct. 2026 Wear it at the desk, on the couch, or while doing your morning stretches to feel the difference. — Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 6 Oct. 2026

Verb

Dark clouds swirl across a sky speckled with stars as the Milky Way stretches above the European Space Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. — Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 9 Oct. 2026 The continent stretches from the Arctic almost to the tropics. — Robert B. Zoellick, Foreign Affairs, 9 Oct. 2026 There are the storied hotels, where afternoon aperitivo stretches indefinitely into dinner and galas are thrown to fête everything and anything. — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 9 Oct. 2026 The gunman was firing from east to west under the construction scaffolding, which stretches the length of three apartment buildings. — Kerry Burke, New York Daily News, 8 Oct. 2026 The work stretches over nearly 30 miles and includes about 40 places identified as needing to be repaired. — Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026 San Diego’s drought stretches on, but Milwaukee is eight wins away from ending its own. — Greg Beacham, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026 Production stretches into 2029 BAE Systems will carry out most ACV-R production in York under the new award. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2026 Highway 1 stretches 656 miles from Leggett in Mendocino County to Dana Point in Orange County. — Sacbee.com, 4 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stretches

Noun

Entrepreneur Emma Grede attributed her ability to keep brands relevant to her complete assuredness in her intuition, which was honed in the expanses of her triumphs—and failures.

— Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2026
Released three years after the similarly freewheeling Nekkuja, the album bubbles over with interdimensional ambition and zigzagging ideas, anchored by her ability to command bewildering expanses of melody and form.

— Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of expanses

Noun

The intestinal villi provide a large surface area while allowing nutrients to move across relatively short distances.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2026
Manual order processing or sending orders to the wrong location means longer shipping distances, higher labor costs and slower deliveries.

— Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of distances

Verb

Armour points to two recent plays, one involving Chelsea Gray and another involving Kiah Stokes, as proof that Clark exaggerates contact and creates false narratives about opposing players.

— Dan Zaksheske OutKick, FOXNews.com, 23 July 2026
The best place to start is a sporting culture that exaggerates accomplishments and rewards capitalistic success before the sporting variety.

— Ian Nicholas Quillen, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026

Definition of exaggerates

Verb

Napoleon is in his head guiding him, and partway through, another voice joins that pulls him somewhere else entirely.

— Jennifer Maas, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
Stoliker also points out that there’s evidence that giving someone a task mid-trip pulls them out of the state—a phenomenon researchers sometimes call grounding.

— Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of pulls

Verb

But none of that martial-arts mayhem is as compelling as the battle being waged behind the scenes as director Kitao Sakurai tries to insert his irreverent, ironic approach into a property resistant to that kind of impish goofing around.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
In the Strait of Hormuz, at least nine tankers and cargo ships have come under attack since Sunday as Iran tries to choke off oil exports through the waterway.

— Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2026