dilate
Example Sentences
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Atropine eye drops are typically used to dilate the pupil before eye exams.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
However, in their new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, the researchers reported that a person's pupils also dilate when they are concentrating on tasks.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 22, 2024
Longer-term use of a catheter would only be needed if doctors were unable to sufficiently dilate the urethra.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
Although it is not an ordinary high blood pressure medicine, it can dilate blood vessels.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023
It made her skin flush and her eyes dilate, and some part of her marveled at the focus of the energy that ran through her.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
It's a different sort of time and it moves, it dilates.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2024
Their study, published Dec. 5 in the journal Cell, focuses on nitric oxide, a compound that dilates blood vessels, improves memory, fights infection and stimulates the release of hormones, among other functions.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 8, 2023
Adenosine is a by-product of energy metabolism, but it also acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter—a chemical messenger that affects brain cells and dilates blood vessels.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 25, 2023
The drug also dilates the cervix and blocks the effects of progesterone, which is needed to sustain a pregnancy.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 8, 2022
At the edge of the rectangle, a thin slit of light dilates wider.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
And if the aorta is dilated a certain amount, patients often undergo an elective surgery to fix it.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
In a dark room, a doctor pointed to an hourglass shape glowing on the ultrasound screen: There was her amniotic sac, funneling into her dilated cervix, and there was their tiny daughter’s foot, dipping out.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
About 35 minutes in, Lamphere’s vitals started spiking; her heart rate quickened, she grew hot, her pupils dilated, she began grinding her teeth.
From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2026
After she was released, she went to the hospital where doctors told her she had already dilated two centimeters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025
His nostrils dilated and he forced his lungs to drink in deep nothingness.
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
Scholars and intellectuals dilating in their little books: None of that matters anymore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
Erectile dysfunction drugs, which work by dilating blood vessels to allow more blood to flow through, were first developed to treat high blood pressure.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2024
The exhaustive format played to President Macron's strengths: his mastery of detail and obvious delight in dilating on every conceivable subject.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2024
Some also have trouble with the lining of their small blood vessels not dilating and constricting properly to move blood through, she added.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 9, 2023
The Queen leaned toward her, and she was so close now that Kaede could see the Queen’s pupils dilating.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
Vocabulary lists containing dilate
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Selected Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 1
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