fanning out
Spreading in arc
Fanning out describes spreading from a central point in multiple directions, like the ribs of a handheld fan opening.
Search parties fan out to cover more ground.
Cards fan out in a player's hand.
The phrase suggests organized dispersal: The soldiers fanned out across the field.
It can also describe information or influence radiating outward: News of the scandal was already fanning out through the organization.
- dispersingSpreading widely apart
- deck of cardsShuffled playing set
- diffuseSpread thinly throughout
- spray patternHow sprayed liquid disperses
- spreadingExtending over space
cascading · starburst · peacock feathers · mushrooming · bifurcation · scatter · search party · river delta · deployment · branching · radiate · rays of light · distributing · ripple effect · separating · metastasizing · divergence · diaspora
- divergingforking, splitting, branching, parting, separating
- divergencebranching, deviation, departure, bifurcation, fork
- size changesenlarge, enlargement, expand, expansion, shrink
fanning outconverging
Moving toward sameness
coming together · gathering · clustering · concentrating · consolidating
fanning outregrouping
Organizing anew after scattering
assembling · massing · rallying · falling back · pulling back
fan, fanning, fanned, fans, out, outing, outings, outer, outermost