to dilate
2
7.5
- verb
- /daɪˈleɪt/
- Formal
:
explayarse (sobre)
- As one commentator on the frontier noted, "The gain in personal influence, besides other advantages, which an ability to converse directly with the people gives an Englishman among Pathans is so obvious that I need not dilate on it." 15
Examples
-
The professor often dilates on the importance of ethics in scientific research.
-
On it all men write, speak, think and dilate from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.
-
Since its genesis, the concept of legal rights has so dilated that some lament it has been pushed beyond its appropriate boundaries and no longer has meaning.
Academic text (1999) -
Pinsky read a poem that dilates on a particular notion of courage, Marianne Moore's "What Are Years?"
Academic text (2002) -
Herman Melville's great monument to the wisdom of mistrust, The Confidence Man, dilates proverbial shrewdness to a brilliantly skeptical extreme.
Academic text (1999) -
During the meeting, she dilated on her ideas for improving the marketing strategy.
-
He took the time to dilate on his experiences traveling through Europe.
Synonyms
225
3.5
To add more details to explain something better
79
4.2
To give more details or explain something more fully
20
7.3
Explain something in detail so people understand it
15
4.0
To add more details to an idea, plan, or argument
12
3.7
To talk or write about something in more detail
9
8.1
To talk about something for too long and say the same things again
1
7.8
To speak or write for a long time about a topic
1
9.9
To talk or write for a long time about a subject
1
6.1
To talk or write for a long time using many words when it is not needed
1
9.4
To talk for a long time about unimportant things
To talk for a long time about a subject in detail
To speak or write at length about a subject in a formal way
To explain an idea or meaning in detail
Antonyms
How Detailed
- Formal
20
7.3
79
4.2
- Formal
2
7.5
∞
1.0
∞
1.0
951
1.6
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
dilate = dilat + ate
The sense 'speak or write at length' is a metaphorical extension of 'expand' derived from the same Latinate stem plus '-ate'; the relation is not obviously derivable from common English morphemes alone.
Etymology
The word dilate can also mean to speak or write at length because it comes from the same Latin root latus ('wide'), giving the idea of 'spreading out'. So to dilate on a topic is to 'spread out' your ideas and explain them in more detail.