dilation
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Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of dilation
Explanation
Dilation is expansion, usually of an opening such as the pupil. When that happens, your eyes look black and the light comes streaming in. Grab your sunglasses! The word dilation is the noun form of dilate, "to make wider.” Dilation often refers to what happens when a woman goes into labor, and her cervix dilates to let the baby through. Dilation is also used for writing or speech that expands on a topic. Here’s a dilation: funny thing is that the -ate ending of dilate is not a suffix but part of the word, so it should really be dilatation, but no one says it that way.
Vocabulary lists containing dilation
The Woman Warrior
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STAAR Grade 8 Mathematics: Geometry and Measurement, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Dilation and evacuation, or “D and E,” is a similar procedure for second-trimester abortion that uses additional tools, such as forceps.
From Washington Post • Jun. 20, 2022
Dilation and curettage, or “D and C,” which typically uses an instrument to suction tissue from the uterus, is a standard option for aborting early pregnancies.
From Washington Post • Jun. 20, 2022
Dilation is mediated by prostaglandin E2, but requires nitric oxide release to suppress vasoconstricting 20-HETE synthesis.
From Nature • Apr. 4, 2014
Dilation began about one second before they pressed the button and peaked one to two seconds after.
From Scientific American • Dec. 7, 2012
The like it is in a deliberation of executing presently, or deferring till another time; For when the voyces are equall, the not decreeing Execution, is a decree of Dilation.
From Leviathan by Hobbes, Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
