n.
- The act or process of expanding: the new nation's expansion westward.
- The state of being expanded.
- An expanded part: an expansion of a river.
- A product of expanding: a book that is an expansion of the author's Ph.D. thesis.
- The extent or amount by which something has expanded.
- Mathematics.
- A quantity written in an extended form, such as in a sum or product of terms.
- The process of obtaining this form.
- An expanse.
- A period of increased economic or business activity.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.