dilate
Increase in diameter
To dilate is to widen or expand.
Pupils dilate in dim light; blood vessels dilate to increase blood flow.
A doctor dilates a cervix during certain procedures.
The word also applies to speech: to dilate on a subject is to discuss it at length, expanding on the topic: She dilated upon her travels for an hour.
Increase in size
- expoundExplain at length
- elaborateComplex and detailed
- detailSingle small element
- explainMake something understood
amplify · discuss · develop · explore · expatiate · discourse · extend · prolong
Learner or eye opening
- irisEye's pigmented disc
- eyeOrgan of sight
- miosisPupil narrowing response
- atropineAnticholinergic alkaloid medication
eyedrop · ophthalmoscope · retina · fundus · photophobia · accommodation · reflex · constrict
Relaxation of vessel walls
- arteryOxygen-rich blood conduit
- veinVessel toward heart
- capillarySmallest blood vessel
- blood-vesselTube carrying circulation
vasoconstriction · nitroglycerin · circulation · perfusion · hypotension · flush · warmth · peripheral
Act of erasing completely
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
- deliveryConveyance of goods
- childbirthInfant's emergence from womb
- centimetersMetric length units
contractions · obstetrics · midwife · transition · membrane · ripening · induction · epidural
widen
Expand in breadth
distend · swell · inflate · open · spread · gape · flare · balloon · extend · bulge
expand
Increase in size
explain · amplify · discuss · develop · explore · expatiate · discourse · extend · prolong · lengthen
pupil
Learner or eye opening
atropine · eyedrop · ophthalmoscope · retina · fundus · photophobia · accommodation · reflex · constrict · pinpoint
vasodilation
Relaxation of vessel walls
blood-vessel · vasoconstriction · nitroglycerin · circulation · perfusion · hypotension · flush · warmth · peripheral · coronary
effacement
Act of erasing completely
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
- deliveryConveyance of goods
- childbirthInfant's emergence from womb
centimeters · contractions · obstetrics · midwife · transition · membrane · ripening · induction · epidural · pushing
- growthgrowth, grow, growing, growth rate, increase
- size changesenlarge, enlargement, expand, expansion, shrink
- surgical proceduresincise, excise, suture, resect, dissect
- transformationschange, changes, transform, transforms, transformation
- body actionsbreathe, inhale, exhale, swallow, blink
- intensity changesincrease, decrease, intensify, amplify, diminish
- dilated pupilsWidened eye apertures
- time dilationClocks slow at speed
- cervical dilationWidening of womb's exit
- pupil dilationEye opening widening
- blood vessel dilation
- dilated eye examEye check using pupil-enlarging drops
dilated, dilatory, dilation, dilates, dilating, dilator, dilatation, dilations, dilators