Word.ws English Dictionary

stretch the envelope

stretch the envelope verb: synonym of push the envelope.

Verb

stretch the envelope (third-person singular simple present stretches the envelope, present participle stretching the envelope, simple past and past participle stretched the envelope)

  1. Synonym of push the envelope.
    • We gratefully acknowledge the contributors whose courage and commitment to a multicultural education not only bring hope and possibility to the multicultural terrain but continue to stretch the envelope of praxis in that terrain.1998, Rudolfo Chavez Chavez, James O'Donnell, Speaking the Unpleasant
    • Throughout the 1980s, advanced latex special effects processes allowed directors like David Cronenberg, Brian Yuzna, and Clive Barker to stretch the envelope of onscreen surrealism with a previously impossible ease.2006, Henry Jenkins, The Wow Climax: Tracing the Emotional Impact of Popular Culture

Examples of stretch the envelope in a sentence

  • In a private physician's office, doctors stretch the envelope (although this can become a concern to the state medical board, since that is the only oversight).2006, Michael H. Cohen, Mary Ruggie, Marc S. Micozzi, The Practice of Integrative Medicine, page 75:
  • NPD programs that stretch the envelope are fraught with questions and unknowns.2008, David L. Rainey, Product Innovation, page 534:

Synonyms of stretch the envelope

Forms of stretch the envelope

third-person singular presentstretches the envelope
present participlestretching the envelope
past participlestretched the envelope
paststretched the envelope

Questions about stretch the envelope

What does stretch the envelope mean?
Stretch the envelope means synonym of push the envelope.
How do you use stretch the envelope in a sentence?
In a private physician's office, doctors stretch the envelope (although this can become a concern to the state medical board, since that is the only oversight).
What part of speech is stretch the envelope?
Stretch the envelope is a verb.
What is the past tense of stretch the envelope?
The past tense of stretch the envelope is stretched the envelope.

Words near stretch the envelope in the dictionary

  1. stretch printing
  2. stretch rope
  3. stretch shortening cycle
  4. stretch target
  5. stretch targets
  6. stretch the envelope
  7. stretch the long bow
  8. stretch the point
  9. stretch the rules
  10. stretch the truth
  11. stretch thin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stretch the envelope (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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