distend

[ dih-stend ]

verb (used with or without object)

1. to expand by stretching, as something hollow or elastic:

   Habitual overeating had distended his stomach.

   Synonyms: bloat, enlarge

   Antonyms: contract, shrink

2. to spread in all directions; expand; swell:

   The sea distended about them.

   Synonyms: bloat, enlarge

   Antonyms: contract, shrink

distend

/ dɪˈstɛnd /

verb

1. to expand or be expanded by or as if by pressure from within; swell; inflate
2. tr to stretch out or extend
3. tr to magnify in importance; exaggerate

Derived Forms

• disˈtension, noun
• disˌtensiˈbility, noun
• disˈtender, noun
• disˈtensible, adjective

Other Words From

• dis·tender noun
• over·dis·tend verb
• undis·tend verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of distend¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English distenden (from Anglo-French destendre ), from Latin distendere, equivalent to dis- dis- ¹ + tendere “to stretch”

Word History and Origins

Origin of distend¹

C14: from Latin distendere, from dis- ¹+ tendere to stretch

Synonym Study

See expand.

Example Sentences

The study was initially conducted in vitro with electrochemical nanosensors, and revealed that when confronted with inert nanofibers over 15 microns in length,3 the cells are unable to distend enough to entirely encapsulate them within their "digestive" vesicle.

From Science Daily

Instead, random bits of the Peep chick — its flat base, the curved neck, the tail — distend until they look like bubbles about to burst.

From Salon

I hadn’t seen him look so helpless since he’d crouched next to our wrecked station wagon, watching Mother’s face bulge and distend, unable even to touch her because electrified cables were sending a deadly pulse through the metal.

From Literature

Stripes, grids and weaves all distend and disintegrate across the surface, and their dissolution is what endows the technical play with metaphorical possibility.

From Los Angeles Times

Highly aware that these paintings circulate in white-dominated spaces, they do not depict ritual knowledge with legible forms, but rather layer, abbreviate, distend and obfuscate these forms into patterns that are neither properly “abstract” nor exactly representational.

From New York Times