expansive
Americanadjective
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having a wide range or extent; comprehensive; extensive.
expansive mountain scenery.
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(of a person's character or speech) effusive, unrestrained, free, or open.
Our expansive host welcomed us warmly.
- Synonyms:
- gushing, gushy, unreserved, genial, outgoing, extroverted, sociable
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causing expansion.
the expansive force of heat.
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working by expansion, as an engine.
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Psychiatry. marked by an abnormal euphoric state and by delusions of grandeur.
adjective
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able or tending to expand or characterized by expansion
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wide; extensive
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friendly, open, or talkative
an expansive person
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grand or extravagant
an expansive way of life
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psychiatry lacking restraint in the expression of feelings, esp in having delusions of grandeur or being inclined to overvalue oneself or one's work
Other Word Forms
- expansively adverb
- expansiveness noun
- nonexpansive adjective
- nonexpansiveness noun
- overexpansive adjective
- overexpansiveness noun
- unexpansive adjective
- unexpansiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of expansive
First recorded in 1645–55; expans(ion) + -ive
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.
In 2014, Rivera-Amador and Hollinquest founded the Radical Monarchs in Oakland — giving girls and gender expansive youth of color ages 8 through 13 a safe space to practice self-love, sisterhood and activism.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2026
Omri Ben-Shahar, a law professor at the University of Chicago, said the verdicts reflect an expansive view on tech companies’ liability for their products.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026
One major reason for the expansive search is that the shale boom that turned the U.S. into the world’s largest oil producer could be slowing.
From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026
When they first put the dwelling on the market, Zeta-Jones told the Wall Street Journal that they no longer needed such an expansive abode, particularly after their two children had grown up and left home.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 25, 2026
When Aureliano told her, Pilar Ternera let out a deep laugh, the old expansive laugh that ended up as a cooing of doves.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
