expansion

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.

   “The expansion of metals and plastics in response to heat is well understood.”

   “[…] 1919, a time when African American hopes for a just future following their service in World War I were dashed by violent reassertions of white supremacy, including the efflorescence and expansion of the KKK into the Midwestern and northwestern U.S.”

2. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.

   “Look up the expansion of 1018 steel at stick welding temps and figure out how far this thing's gonna bend once we weld it up.”

3. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.

   “My new office is in the expansion behind the main building.”

4. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.

   “This expansion requires the original game board.”

5. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.

   “Mother of mighty Rome's imperial line, / Delight of man, and of the powers divine, / Venus, all-bounteous queen! whose genial power / Diffuses beauty in unbounded store / Through seas, and fertile plains, and all that lies / Beneath the starred expansion of the skies.”

6. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.
7. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.

   “Expansion of acronyms is often helpful for nonexpert readers (anacronyms excluded).”

8. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.

   “The acronym "FNDs" can mean either "functional neurologic disorders" or "focal neurologic deficits", so you'd better use the expansion instead of the acronym, for clarity in this context; readers of this paragraph may not have read, or remember, which definition you used 40 pages earlier.”

9. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.
10. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.

    “Secondly, the cyclical expansion now taking shape in the United States is starting from a relatively high level; it has much less headroom than earlier expansions that began from a deeply deflated recession base.”

    “In addition, new technologies are adopted which are less labour-using, thus unemploying workers. Over the postwar years, factors of this sort have contributed to a gradual upward drift in unemployment rates, even during expansions.”

11. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.
12. (countable, uncountable)An act, process, or instance of expanding.