expatiate

[ik-spey-shee-eyt]

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verb (used without object), ex·pa·ti·at·ed, ex·pa·ti·at·ing.

to enlarge in discourse or writing; be copious in description or discussion: to expatiate upon a theme.

Archaic. to move or wander about intellectually, imaginatively, etc., without restraint.

Origin of expatiate

1530–40; < Latin expatiātus past participle of ex(s)patiārī to wander, digress, equivalent to ex- ex-¹ + spatiārī to walk about, derivative of spatium space; see -ate¹

Related formsex·pa·ti·a·tion, nounex·pa·ti·a·tor, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for expatiate

expound, develop, enlarge, dilate

Examples from the Web for expatiate

Contemporary Examples of expatiate

Mourdock was not the only Republican candidate to expatiate on the subject of rape.
The Tea Party: the GOP's Own Worst Enemy
David Frum
November 3, 2012

Historical Examples of expatiate

But why expatiate to a stranger on sorrow which must be secret?
Vivian Grey
Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
It is needless to expatiate on its poetic merit or felicity of diction.
My Reminiscences
Rabindranath Tagore
But I and my chimney must explain; and as we are both rather obese, we may have to expatiate.
I and My Chimney
Herman Melville
It is useless to expatiate on a code of morals that seems to us positively Japanese.
Raleigh
Edmund Gosse
It cannot be necessary to expatiate at all upon the nature of the offence.
The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane,
William Brodie Gurney

British Dictionary definitions for expatiate

expatiate

verb (intr)

(foll by on or upon) to enlarge (on a theme, topic, etc) at length or in detail; elaborate (on)

rare to wander about

Derived Formsexpatiation, nounexpatiator, noun

Word Origin for expatiate

C16: from Latin exspatiārī to digress, from spatiārī to walk about

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for expatiate

1530s, "walk about, roam freely," from Latin expatiatus/exspatiatus, past participle of expatiari/exspatiari "wander, digress," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + spatiari "to walk, spread out," from spatium (see space). Meaning "talk or write at length" is 1610s. Related: Expatiated; expatiating.