expansion

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Act of expanding

Nouns — expansion, increase, enlargement, extension, augmentation, amplification, dilation, aggrandizement, spread, growth, development, turgescence, turgidness, turgidity; obesity, dropsy, tumefaction, tumescence, flare, swell[ing], tumor, tumidity; diastole, distension; puffiness, in-flation; overgrowth, hypertrophy; blowup. See addition, elasticity, space.

Verbs

1. expand, widen, enlarge, extend, grow, augment, increase, swell, mushroom, fill out; dilate; deploy; stretch, spread, flare, bell; spring up, bud, burgeon, sprout, put forth, open, burst forth, gain flesh, flesh out or up; draw out; outgrow, overrun, be larger than.

2. aggrandize, distend, develop, amplify, blow up, widen, inflate, stuff, pad, cram, exaggerate; fatten.

Adjectives — expanded, larger, swollen, expansive, extensive, widespread, overgrown, exaggerated, bloated, fat, turgid, tumid, hypertrophied, potbellied; obese, puffy, distended, bulbous, full-blown, full-grown, big, developed.

Antonyms, see contraction.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. enlargement, augmentation, extension; see development 2 , increase 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

enlargement, extension, increase, growth, development, magnification, spread, heightening, widening, broadening, lengthening.

ANT.: contraction, downsizing, decrease

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The act of increasing in dimensions, scope, or inclusiveness: enlargement, extension, spread. See INCREASE. 2. A wide and open area, as of land, sky, or water: distance, expanse, extent, reach, space, spread, stretch, sweep. See PLACE.