Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use expand in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Expand means to change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open. Example: “You can expand this compact umbrella to cover a large table.”

Examples of expand by meaning

verbTo change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open.

  • You can expand this compact umbrella to cover a large table.

verbTo increase the extent, number, volume or scope of (something).

  • A flower expands its leaves.
  • This has evidently been encouraging, for the current winter timetable - not even with the benefit of summer holiday traffic - shows that the two trains each way have been expanded to four.1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Scottish Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 594
  • When an ultrasonic beam is fired at the microcannons, the emulsion evaporates, expanding rapidly into gas.2016 February 1, Tom Whipple, “Microcannon firing nanobullets: the future of targeted medicine”, in The Times

verbTo change or grow from smaller to larger in form, number, or size.

  • Many materials expand when heated.
  • This compact umbrella expands to cover a large table.

verbTo speak or write at length or in detail.

  • He expanded on his plans for the business.

More sentences with expand

  • The opera singer expanded his audience by singing songs from the shows.From the entry audience
  • The preprocessor expands any embedded macros into source code before it is compiled.From the entry macro
  • The borders of the empire were expanded militarily over the course of many wars of conquest.From the entry militarily
  • An expanded access protocol allows patients to benefit from an investigational drug prior to FDA approval.From the entry investigational
  • What was a chocolate factory has now expanded to produce nonconfectionery items.From the entry nonconfectionery
  • Civil-liberties advocates warned that the expanding surveillance apparatus had created turnkey tyranny.From the entry turnkey tyranny
  • To cater for increasing travellers, this CIQ complex will be expanded.From the entry CIQ
  • That chain of restaurants is expanding into our town.From the entry chain
  • The universe is expanding and has been since its beginning.From the entry have
  • The conjurer expanded his repertoire with some new tricks.From the entry repertoire
  • Since expanding in June, the business has really thrived.From the entry thrive
  • Trying to expand the business into the Middle East was doomed to failure. In retrospect, we shouldn't have bothered.From the entry in retrospect
  • The duke's fiefdom had been greatly expanded as a reward for his dutiful military service on behalf of the king.From the entry fiefdom
  • Though the majority wanted to expand the dormitory, the maior et sanior pars decided on increasing the library's collection.From the entry maior et sanior pars
  • He blames his overindulgence in food for his expanding waistline.From the entry overindulgence
  • The mudslinging didn't help expand the media coverage of the issues; all that was reported was the mudslingings.From the entry mudslinging
  • The $D metastring expands to the current date and time.From the entry metastring
  • Tom always used the grid method for expanding brackets.From the entry grid method
  • The president lamented that his nation's human capital is woefully underexploited owing to a dearth of financial capital with which to start and expand businesses.From the entry underexploit
  • Everyone is searched while exiting; TTD is now expanding automation to reduce manual handling.2026 July 13, “How big temples guard their donations”, in India Today, volume 51, number 27, page 30. From the entry hundi
  • An act of kindness is more like dropping a stone that creates expanding ripples, he says.2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR. From the entry come to
  • “The field is expanding much faster than the legal system can keep up with.2025 December 2, Cade Metz, quoting Robin Feldman, “Silicon Valley Builds Amazon and Gmail Copycats to Train A.I. Agents”, in The New York…. From the entry shoot first and ask questions later
  • And just like any other tech company, we're expanding our minds by microdosing ketamine.2025 August 20, “Sickofancy”, in South Park, season 27, episode 3, spoken by Randy Marsh. From the entry microdose
  • I have expanded hooked e as ae even in words where classical Latin demands an ae spelling.2025, Thomas H. Bestul, Durham Book of Devotions: Edited from London, Society of Antiquaries, MS. 7, Brill, page 15. From the entry hooked e
  • If the FDA expands the use of finerenone as a heart failure therapy, cardiologist Dr.2024 September 1, Jacqueline Howard, “Kidney disease medication found to reduce risk of cardiovascular death in certain heart failure…. From the entry finerenone
  • America’s job market continues to expand despite elevated interest rates maintained by the Federal Reserve (Fed).2024 February 5, “The effect of the job market on the economy”, in U.S. Wealth Management – U.S. Bank. From the entry job market
  • A key step in building neuroinclusive workplaces is creating, expanding, and nurturing our professional networks.2024, John Marble, Khushboo Chabria, & Ranga Jayaraman, Neurodiversity For Dummies, page 328. From the entry neuroinclusive
  • Technology has expanded our dating options with its conveyor belt of potential mates.2024 July 21, Anne Branigin, “Going ‘boy sober’ is about more than celibacy”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington…. From the entry lovebombing
  • The interior streets then become available for walking, biking, and expanded green space.2022 March 8, Sarah DeWeerdt, “Barcelona-style “superblocks” could make a surprising number of cities greener and less car-centric”, in…. From the entry superblock
  • The seven sisters, as if Sabine women out for revenge, vie with one another, exponentially expanding complications.2022 April 27, David Finkle, “POTUS: Foul-Mouthed Women on Comedy Rampage”, in New York Stage Review. From the entry at swords' points
  • Bank of Canada (BoC) data shows that the money supply is still expanding rapidly in October.2022 January 18, Stephen Punwasi, “Over 1 In 5 Canadian Dollars Created Didn’t Exist Two Years Ago”, in Better Dwelling. From the entry go brrr
  • Starting January 11, the ‘Word of the Day’ single word clips will be expanded.2021 January 11, Odette Auger, “The Ayajuthem language radiates across territory”, in Toronto Star. From the entry Ayajuthem
  • But as Poppy’s fictional world expanded, Pereira became embroiled in IRL controversy.2020 January 10, Aimee Cliff, “Poppy: I Disagree review – online pop-bot embraces IRL nu-metal”, in The Guardian. From the entry irl

Meaning of expand

  1. verb To change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open.
  2. verb To increase the extent, number, volume or scope of (something).
  3. verb To express (something) at length and/or in detail.

Full definition of expand

Questions about expand in a sentence

How do you use expand in a sentence?
Expand is used as a verb. For example: “You can expand this compact umbrella to cover a large table.”
What is a short sentence with expand?
“A flower expands its leaves.”
What does expand mean?
Expand means to change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: expand (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use expand in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/expand. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.