dilating
Becoming more open
Dilating is the present participle of dilate, meaning to expand or widen.
Eyes dilate in darkness as pupils open to admit more light.
A cervix dilates during childbirth.
Blood vessels dilate in response to heat or medication.
The word extends to speech: to dilate on a subject is to speak or write about it at length, expanding on the topic.
Increasing in extent
- broadeningIncreasing in extent
- enlargingIncreasing the size of
- stretchingExtending muscles or material
- swellingAbnormal tissue enlargement
spreading · opening · distending · extending · inflating · bloating · amplifying · magnifying
Students or eye openings
- irisEye's pigmented disc
- eyeOrgan of sight
- atropineAnticholinergic alkaloid medication
- ophthalmologyMedical specialty for eyes
optometry · glaucoma · photophobia · light sensitivity · accommodation · reflex · anticholinergic · adrenergic
Uterine opening to vagina
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
- childbirthInfant's emergence from womb
- contractionsShortened word forms
- effacementAct of erasing completely
obstetrics · delivery · centimeters · midwife · birthing · pitocin · induction · transition
Relaxation of vessel walls
- blood vesselsTubes carrying circulating fluid
- arteriesTubes carrying oxygenated blood
- veinsBlood-return tubes
- capillariesTiniest blood vessels
circulation · blood flow · nitroglycerin · antihypertensive · smooth muscle · cardiovascular · perfusion · nitric oxide
widening
Increasing in extent
- broadeningIncreasing in extent
- enlargingIncreasing the size of
- stretchingExtending muscles or material
swelling · spreading · opening · distending · extending · inflating · bloating · amplifying · magnifying · augmenting
pupils
Students or eye openings
ophthalmology · optometry · glaucoma · photophobia · light sensitivity · accommodation · reflex · anticholinergic · adrenergic · autonomic
cervix
Uterine opening to vagina
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
- childbirthInfant's emergence from womb
- contractionsShortened word forms
effacement · obstetrics · delivery · centimeters · midwife · birthing · pitocin · induction · transition · epidural
vasodilation
Relaxation of vessel walls
- blood vesselsTubes carrying circulating fluid
- arteriesTubes carrying oxygenated blood
- veinsBlood-return tubes
capillaries · circulation · blood flow · nitroglycerin · antihypertensive · smooth muscle · cardiovascular · perfusion · nitric oxide · hypotension
- visionsharp, eye, visual perception, sight, eyes
- animal breedingbreeding, dog breeding, mating, gestation, crossbreeding
dilatingcontracting
Reducing in volume
constricting · narrowing · shrinking · tightening · compressing
dilatingcondensing
Reducing in volume
abbreviating · summarizing · compressing · truncating · curtailing
- time dilationClocks slow at speed
- cervical dilationWidening of womb's exit
- pupil dilationEye opening widening
- blood vessel dilation
- cervix dilationUterine opening's expansion