spreading out
Extending in all directions
Spreading out is the act of extending over a wider area or arranging things with more space between them.
Objects spread out when distributed across a surface: She was spreading out the blankets for a picnic.
People spread out to cover more ground or avoid crowding: The search party spread out across the field.
The phrase can also describe becoming less concentrated over time: The city kept spreading out into the countryside.
- fanning outSpreading from center outward
- stretchingExtending muscles or material
- expansionIncrease in scope
- opening upBecoming less guarded
- unfoldingGradually becoming apparent
laying out · dispersion · distribution · scattering · thinning out · diffusion · scope · sweep · permeation · splaying · ramification · divergence · widening · branching · radiating · sprawling · far and wide · propagation
spreading outcontracting
Reducing in volume
shrinking · compressing · condensing · retracting · drawing in
spreading outgathering
Collection of people meeting
concentrating · clustering · converging · collecting · consolidating
spreading outconcentrating
Directing mental effort narrowly
compressing · cramming · clustering · condensing · front-loading
spread, spreading, spreads, spreader, spreaders, widespread, outward, outwards, outing