expanse

(redirected from expanses)
Also found in: Thesaurus.

ex·panse

 (ĭk-spăns′)
n.
1. A wide and open extent, as of surface, land, or sky.
2.
a. Expansion.
b. The distance or amount of expansion.

[Latin expānsum, from neuter past participle of expandere, to spread out; see expand.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

expanse

(ɪkˈspæns)
n
1. an uninterrupted surface of something that spreads or extends, esp over a wide area; stretch: an expanse of water.
2. expansion or extension
[C17: from New Latin expansum the heavens, from Latin expansus spread out, from expandere to expand]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ex•panse

(ɪkˈspæns)

n.
1. an uninterrupted space or area: an expanse of water.
2. the arch of the sky; firmament.
[1660–70; < Latin expānsum, n. use of neuter of expānsus, past participle of expandere; see expand]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Expanse

 something spread out; a wide expanse or extent of anything.
Examples: expanse of black cloth [mourning], 1858; of wavy corn, 1781; of forest; of heaven, 1667; of crystal lakes, 1711; of life, 1758; of sand, 1869.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.expanse - a wide scopeexpanse - a wide scope; "the sweep of the plains"
ambit, range, scope, reach, compass, orbit - an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"; "a piano has a greater range than the human voice"; "the ambit of municipal legislation"; "within the compass of this article"; "within the scope of an investigation"; "outside the reach of the law"; "in the political orbit of a world power"
2.expanse - the extent of a 2-dimensional surface enclosed within a boundaryexpanse - the extent of a 2-dimensional surface enclosed within a boundary; "the area of a rectangle"; "it was about 500 square feet in area"
extent - the distance or area or volume over which something extends; "the vast extent of the desert"; "an orchard of considerable extent"
acreage, land area - an area of ground used for some particular purpose (such as building or farming); "he wanted some acreage to build on"
footprint - the area taken up by some object; "the computer had a desktop footprint of 10 by 16 inches"
erasure - a surface area where something has been erased; "another word had been written over the erasure"
blank space, space, place - a blank area; "write your name in the space provided"
space - one of the areas between or below or above the lines of a musical staff; "the spaces are the notes F-A-C-E"
balk, baulk - the area on a billiard table behind the balkline; "a player with ball in hand must play from the balk"
plane section, section - (geometry) the area created by a plane cutting through a solid
3.expanse - a wide and open space or area as of surface or land or sky
sheet - any broad thin expanse or surface; "a sheet of ice"
stretch - a large and unbroken expanse or distance; "a stretch of highway"; "a stretch of clear water"
space - an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things); "the architect left space in front of the building"; "they stopped at an open space in the jungle"; "the space between his teeth"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

expanse

noun area, range, field, space, stretch, sweep, extent, plain, tract, breadth a vast expanse of grassland
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

expanse

noun
A wide and open area, as of land, sky, or water:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
إمْتِداد، إتّساع
fladevidde
víîátta
geniş alan

expanse

[ɪksˈpæns] Nextensión f; [of wings] → envergadura f
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

expanse

[ɪkˈspæns] nétendue f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

expanse

nFläche f; (of ocean etc)Weite f no pl; a vast expanse of grasseine riesige Grasfläche; an expanse of woodlandein Waldgebiet nt
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

expanse

[ɪksˈpæns] ndistesa, estensione f
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

expand

(ikˈspand) verb
to make or grow larger; to spread out wider. Metals expand when heated; He does exercises to expand his chest; The school's activities have been expanded to include climbing and mountaineering.
exˈpanse (-s) noun
a wide area or extent. an expanse of water.
exˈpansion (-ʃən) noun
the act or state of expanding. the expansion of metals.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
And hence not only at substantiated times, upon well known separate feeding-grounds, could Ahab hope to encounter his prey; but in crossing the widest expanses of water between those grounds he could, by his art, so place and time himself on his way, as even then not to be wholly without prospect of a meeting.
Where was my great commerce that so lately had made these glistening expanses populous and beautiful with its white-winged flocks?
The whole expanse Suddenly in the half-light of the dusk Glimmered and waned.
The carriage lamps shed a yellow light on a rough-looking road which seemed to be cut through bushes and low-growing things which ended in the great expanse of dark apparently spread out before and around them.
It is not the ship that takes her departure; the seaman takes his Departure by means of cross-bearings which fix the place of the first tiny pencil-cross on the white expanse of the track-chart, where the ship's position at noon shall be marked by just such another tiny pencil cross for every day of her passage.
The wide expanse that opened out before the heights on which the Russian batteries stood guarding the bridge was at times veiled by a diaphanous curtain of slanting rain, and then, suddenly spread out in the sunlight, far-distant objects could be clearly seen glittering as though freshly varnished.
One summer night a man stood on a low hill overlooking a wide expanse of forest and field.
There was some sense of freedom in the vast expanse, inaccessible though it was to me,as compared with the narrow darkness of the courtyard.
It was evening when we pitched our camp, and the great ball of the sun was sinking into the desert, sending glorious rays of many-coloured light flying all over its vast expanse. Leaving Good to superintend the arrangement of our little camp, I took Sir Henry with me, and walking to the top of the slope opposite, we gazed across the desert.
A long and brilliantly white beach is capped by a margin of green vegetation; and the strip, looking either way, rapidly narrows away in the distance, and sinks beneath the horizon From the mast-head a wide expanse of smooth water can be seen within the ring.
As you ascend the mountains about its shores, says he, you behold this immense body of water spreading itself before you, and stretching further and further, in one wide and far-reaching expanse, until the eye, wearied with continued and strained attention, rests in the blue dimness of distance, upon lofty ranges of mountains, confidently asserted to rise from the bosom of the waters.
And, finally, it provided means of descent on London and all the expanse of country watered by the Thames.