Distend

A soda and pizza binge might make your stomach distend, meaning your stomach will swell as a result of pressure from the inside.

  • Pronunciation: / dɪ'stɛnd /
  • English Description: become broader or wider or more extensive
  • Chinese Translation: 膨胀(qian2 tao2)
  • Spanish Translation: hinchar
  • STORY: If you’ve ever eaten too much food it won’t surprise you to learn that the verb distend traces back to the Latin words dis-, meaning “apart,” and tendere, meaning “to stretch.” Your stomach will certainly feel stretched out if you do something — like overeat — that causes it to distend. The word distend often applies to stomachs — a pregnancy would also cause a stomach to distend — but it can also refer to anything that is stretched out as a result of internal pressure.

EXAMPLE SENTENCE:

  • Flights will be missed due to the enormous security delays, and the distended passenger lines themselves will become choice terrorist targets.
  • I’m not talking about bloated, bitter arrogance, the kind that distends the ego and clouds judgment.

*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com