Etymologically
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expansive

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪkˈspænsɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is formed on from Latin expānsus (“spread out”), the past participle of expandō (“to spread out, unfold”), with the suffix -ive.[2][3][4][5] Dictionary.com analyses it instead as expansion with the same suffix, and the Shorter Oxford as formed like expansible.[6][7] The Latin verb is made of ex- (“out”) and pandō (“to spread, stretch”), which Etymonline traces to a nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *pete- (“to spread”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tending or able to expand in volume or spread over a larger space: 1651, in William Davenant's Gondibert.[2][4][8]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense was soon applied to people and their feelings: from 1659 an expansive person or utterance was open, effusive and freely outgoing.[2][8] Johnson (1755) knew only the physical sense, "having the power to spread into a wider surface, or greater space", illustrated by the "expansive faculty of the air".[9] From 1656 the word described a force acting towards expansion,[2] and since 1782, in James Watt's patent, an engine or process working by the expansion of steam.[2][7] The sense "occupying a large space, broad, extensive" is recorded from 1806, and its abstract counterpart, "having a wide range, comprehensive", from 1813.[2][3] Modern dictionaries add the senses "grand, lavish" and, in psychiatry, a lack of restraint in expressing feelings, with delusions of grandeur.[10][4][11]

Timeline

  • 1651 – tending or able to expand.[2][4]
  • 1656 – of a force, acting towards expansion.[2][8]
  • 1659 – of persons and their words, open, effusive.[2][8]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it by the power of spreading into a greater space.[9]
  • 1782 – of an engine or process, working by expansion.[2]
  • 1806 – broad, extensive, occupying a large space.[2]
  • 1813 – of thoughts or designs, wide-ranging, comprehensive.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Able to expand or tending to expand: expansive gases.[4][11][10]
  2. Causing or tending to cause expansion.[4][2]
  3. Covering a wide area; broad or extensive: an expansive lawn behind the house.[10][11][2]
  4. Wide in range; comprehensive.[11][2][3]
  5. Friendly, open and talkative; effusive: After dinner the host grew expansive.[10][11][4]
  6. Grand or lavish in scale: an expansive way of living.[10][11]
  7. (psychiatry) Lacking restraint in expressing feelings, especially with delusions of grandeur.[10][4]

Word family

  • expansively
  • expansiveness
  • nonexpansive
  • overexpansive
  • unexpansive

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt