expanse
Americannoun
noun
-
an uninterrupted surface of something that spreads or extends, esp over a wide area; stretch
an expanse of water
-
expansion or extension
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of expanse
1660–70; < New Latin expānsum, noun use of neuter of Latin expānsus, past participle of expandere to expand
Explanation
An expanse is a huge area you can look at all at once. If you climb to the top of a mountain, suggest that your fellow climbers take time to admire the expanse of trees below. Expanse looks like the word expand. Both come from the Latin word expandere, meaning "to spread out, unfold." But where did expandere come from? Ex- means "out" and pandere means "spread or stretch." So an expanse is something that seems to unfold before your eyes, or to put it another way, something that stretches out as far as the eye can see.
Vocabulary lists containing expanse
The Giver
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
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Mr. Popper’s Penguins
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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.
The plan would see India send several of its more than 3,600 tigers to southwest Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains, a protected expanse of lush rainforest stretching over a million hectares.
From Barron's • Jul. 8, 2026
Julia Dawber's home overlooks an expanse of scenic coastline, and she says as many as nine campervans can park up near the shore at any one time.
From BBC • Jun. 28, 2026
The rest was wild brush along with the vast expanse of Warnbro Bay and the Indian Ocean.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 16, 2026
Authorities and volunteers continued searching Sunday for a man who vanished on May 25 while hiking through a wooded expanse west of Lake Tahoe.
From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2026
A creative action shot, it showed a skydiver falling backward into a wide expanse of crystalline sky.
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
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.
