EXPANSIVE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does expansive mean? 

• EXPANSIVE (adjective)
  The adjective EXPANSIVE has 4 senses:

1. able or tending to expand or characterized by expansion

2. of behavior that is impressive and ambitious in scale or scope

3. marked by exaggerated feelings of euphoria and delusions of grandeur

4. friendly and open and willing to talk

  Familiarity information: EXPANSIVE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXPANSIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Able or tending to expand or characterized by expansion

Context example:

the expansive force of fire

Similar:

distensible (capable of being distended; able to stretch and expand)

cavernous; erectile (filled with vascular sinuses and capable of becoming distended and rigid as the result of being filled with blood)

expandable; expandible; expansible (able to expand or be expanded)

inflatable (designed to be filled with air or gas)

Antonym:

unexpansive (showing no tendency to expand)

Derivation:

expand (become larger in size or volume or quantity)

expand (exaggerate or make bigger)

expand (expand the influence of)

expand (make bigger or wider in size, volume, or quantity)

expand (extend in one or more directions)

expansiveness (a quality characterized by magnificence of scale or the tendency to expand)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of behavior that is impressive and ambitious in scale or scope

Synonyms:

expansive; grand; heroic

Context example:

heroic undertakings

Similar:

impressive (making a strong or vivid impression)

Derivation:

expansiveness; expansivity (a quality characterized by magnificence of scale or the tendency to expand)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Marked by exaggerated feelings of euphoria and delusions of grandeur

Similar:

euphoric (exaggerated feeling of well-being or elation)

Domain category:

psychiatry; psychological medicine; psychopathology (the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Friendly and open and willing to talk

Synonyms:

expansive; talkative

Context example:

wine made the guest expansive

Similar:

communicative; communicatory (able or tending to communicate)

Derivation:

expansiveness; expansivity (a friendly open trait of a talkative person)

 Context examples 

If you didn’t receive news about any of the topics (listed above) covered by your expansive ninth house (Capricorn) in late December, you will likely hear soon.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Io is the closest thing we have to hell in our Solar System, a Jovian moon that features hundreds of active volcanoes and expansive lakes filled with lava.

(Massive Lava Waves Detected on Solar System’s Most Volcanically Active Object, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Reserved people often really need the frank discussion of their sentiments and griefs more than the expansive.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The researchers found that the abundance of the most dominant species scales with the total number of individuals across 30 orders of magnitude, making it the most expansive scaling law in biology.

(Researchers find that Earth may be home to 1 trillion species, NSF)

You are ruled by Jupiter, the expansive planet, so you don’t like any kind of budget or perimeter to hem you in.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I thought of the life that lay before me—your life, sir—an existence more expansive and stirring than my own: as much more so as the depths of the sea to which the brook runs are than the shallows of its own strait channel.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This will be quite an expansive time because during this year, you will gradually see your dreams, talents, and personal life in a new light.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

These opinions he delivered in a few words, in a quiet, low voice; and added, after a pause, in the tone of a man little accustomed to expansive comment, Rather an unusual physiognomy; certainly, not indicative of vulgarity or degradation.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A solar eclipse opens a door to an entirely new path, so you are likely to see breathtaking, expansive, and exciting changes as a result of this eclipse.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)