dilation
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Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
For our purposes here, what matters is something Trilling himself does not dilate on: the role of the liberal society of Victorian England in precipitating the protagonist's crisis.
From Salon • Sep. 9, 2023
The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, apologized to the CNN reporters arrested in Minneapolis, and then took a moment to dilate on the importance of a free press.
From Washington Times • Jun. 3, 2020
But Sanders was more inclined to reflect on the challenge of finding a good reed than to dilate on his legacy.
From The New Yorker • Jan. 12, 2020
This is the moment when a more politically attuned writer would dilate on the issue and further explore the connection with the Adria Richards case.
From Slate • Apr. 6, 2015
Next to the pleasure of enjoying an Anglo-Turkish bath oneself, in propria persona, is that of hearing some one dilate on its merits.
From Turkish and Other Baths A Guide to Good Health and Longevity by Stables, Gordon
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.
